Biased NEC dismisses CPP vote-buying ... 'cause no money had changed hands

NEC Dismisses Vote-Buying as Campaign Ends

By VOA Khmer reporters
Original report from Phnom Penh
15 May 2009

The Phnom Penh Election Committee said Friday it would not pursue allegations of vote-buying by the ruling party, as campaigning ended for district- and provincial-level council elections.

Two commune councilors of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party say they were offered bribes of up to $1,000 to vote for two members of the Cambodian People’s Party, Ly Raman and Leng Phaly, in Sunday’s election.

The committee said it found no evidence money had changed hands and it was dropping the case.

Ly Nhok, a representative for the accused, called the decision “just.”

“This decision is very fair following the procedures and provides much justice for my clients, because the hearings were made in conformity with the law,” he said. “My clients did not commit vote-buying at all, and the plaintiffs had no clear evidence.”

Ly Sovichea, an attorney for the Sam Rainsy Party’s Var Sam and Bun Kheth, said the election committee had not considered the evidence and statements of witnesses. He would appeal to the National Election Committee, he said.

The dismissal came at the end of a 15-day council election campaign period, where three parties hope to earn more than 3,000 seats in provincial, municipal and district councils.

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party has around 9,000 commune council voters; the opposition Sam Rainsy Party has more than 2,000; and the party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh has around 400.

“Apart from the 2,660 commune council members from the Sam Rainsy Party, I have met with commune council members from other parties who told me they supported my party’s stand in helping the Cambodian people,” opposition leader Sam Rainsy said. “So they will support Sam Rainsy although they do not show up in public.”

Cheam Yiep, a CPP lawmaker, said the result of the election was obvious, given his party’s overwhelming majority.

Sout Dina, spokesman for the Norodom Ranariddh Party, said he felt optimistic about the result of the election.

“We can’t predict the result, as the voters are free to choose who they like,” he said.

Tep Nitha, secretary general for the National Election Committee, said the four parties campaigned only within their headquarters. No violence occurred during the election campaign, he said.

International Election Observers Must Open Their Eyes

October 8, 2008
Source: SRP

INTERNATIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS MUST OPEN THEIR EYES

The following is further evidence of massive election fraud at Cambodia's national elections on July 27, 2008. One of the most obvious cases of election manipulation is related to the methodical issuance of forged 1018 forms, which inflated votes "won" by the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) to a decisive extent. The electoral trick using the names of ghost voters was associated with the disenfranchisement of a significant portion of the electorate suspected of sympathy for the opposition, finally giving the CPP a "landslide victory."

I- What is a 1018 form?

The 1018 form is a special voter identification document purportedly issued by local authorities for those who are registered as voters in a given commune but do not possess the standardized National ID Card which voters must normally show at the polling station. Two witnesses are required to "certify" the alleged identity of the applicant. The 1018 form is actually used by the holder as a voter card valid only in his/her commune of residence. It bears the signature of the commune chief and the stamp of the commune office. It was the source of a massive election fraud at the July 27, 2008 poll because it was an easy tool for the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) to manipulate the election. Because the CPP controls the National Election Committee (NEC) and its ramifications (*) and because local authorities are also under its control (**), the ruling party could methodically issue forged1018 forms according to a well-planned scheme.

In 2007 and 2008, under the pretext of "cleaning up" voter lists, the NEC deliberately did the opposite of what it should have done: it deleted names that should have remained on the lists and kept names that should have been deleted. The NEC deleted hundreds of thousands of names of bona fide voters known to be unfavorable to the CPP, and kept hundreds of thousands of names of ghost voters in order to build up a reserve of fraudulent votes for the CPP. The outcome was that hundreds of thousands of persons without the right to vote (citizens not registered on the lists of the residential commune, or underage, or foreigners) were able to vote by using forged voter 1018 forms which were methodically provided to them by local authorities by using names of these ghost voters. The NEC has in fact killed three birds with one stone: it has succeeded in cleverly reducing the opposition's votes to a large extent, fraudulently inflated the CPP's votes to the same extent, and maintained a decent rate of "voter" turnout. See CPP election strategy at http://tinyurl.com/3o9t9v
To see a blank 1018 form and an example of forgery using a ghost's name, with English translation, please click at http://tinyurl.com/4b3jyb

Notes:
(*) At the local level, there are 24 Provincial Election Committees (PECs) and 1,621 Commune Election Committees (CECs) which are also controlled by the CPP.
(**) 99 percent of village chiefs and 98 percent of commune chiefs are affiliated with the CPP.

II- Pre-stamped and pre-signed empty 1018 forms

The pre-stamped and pre-signed empty 1018 forms are documents fraudulently prepared in advance in order to be quickly filled out by CPP local authorities by using ghost voters' names; they were to be immediately given to illegitimate voters on Voting Day. See sample at http://tinyurl.com/5v9xbe

From countless communes we have collected bunches of such pre-signed and pre-stamped empty 1018 forms, which shows the general pattern of a massive election fraud.

III- Pre-stamped, pre-signed and partly pre-filled 1018 forms

In order to proceed even faster with the issuance of forged 1018 forms on Voting Day, CPP commune chiefs pre-stamped (in red), pre-signed but also partly pre-filled (in black as a result of photocopy) bunches of 1018 forms, so as to be able to very quickly issue those forms in large quantities to illegitimate voters on Voting Day by just filling out (in blue) the rest of the form. The CPP local authorities often had to wait until the last minute - the document is backdated to get around the law - before completing the form by using the identity of a ghost voter or that of a legitimate voter who obviously was not going to show up at the polling station at the last minute. The form must be fraudulently completed for an illegitimate voter whose sex and age roughly matched those of the ghost or real-but-absent voter. The illegitimate voter's face as shown on his/her photo stuck at the last minute on the form, must be consistent with the data written in blue on the form, especially the sex and age of the ghost or real-but-absent voter as stated on the voter list. See sample of "three-color 1018 forms" at http://tinyurl.com/6cdzev

IV- The typical case of Memot district in Kampong Cham province: It was like that all over the country

The SRP head of Memot district, Nou Pisakha, wrote a detailed report on election irregularities (intimidation by CPP local officials, political discrimination, disenfranchisement, impersonation) that took place in his district on Voting Day. In Tonloung, Choam Tamao, Kompoan and Koki communes, the four CPP commune chiefs issued fraudulent 1018 forms to illegitimate voters by using ghosts' names. These illegal activities took place either in the commune office belonging to the state or in the CPP office in the corresponding commune. The report was written on July 27, at the end of Voting Day, and immediately given to EU observers for Kampong Cham province. Nou Pisakha succeeded in taking photos of the Tonloung commune chief while he was illegally issuing the controversial 1018 forms.

See report and photos with captions in English at http://tinyurl.com/5gkzgj

A similar incident happened in Kampong Seam district, also in Kampong Cham province, also on Voting Day. Please see details in English at http://tinyurl.com/4rsd7m

Another similar incident - showing forged 1018 forms being issued by CPP local authorities to illegitimate voters on Voting Day - was witnessed in Kampong Trolach district in Kampong Chhnang province. Please see photos with explanation in English by clicking at http://tinyurl.com/55n4yw

V- Confession by a CPP Election Working Group member

The CPP official reveals that the scheme to issue forged 1018 forms using ghosts' names on a large scale was prepared in advance by the CPP leadership with the complicity of the National Election Committee (NEC). See confession with English translation at http://tinyurl.com/4zgkp6

VI- Confession of a CPP-affiliated commune clerk

We have posted on our Web site a taped conversation between Phnom Penh's Boeng Salang commune chief Touch Meng Sreang (SRP) and commune clerk Kuch Bunnarith, who confesses having stamped more than 200 forged 1018 forms illegally signed by the CPP deputy commune chief without the knowledge of the commune chief. To listen to the audio tape please click at http://tinyurl.com/3fzfms

VII- Ghosts and forgery allowed underage to vote

The CPP used ghosts' names and forgery to allow under-aged persons (less than 18 year-old) to vote. See concrete evidence of fraud at http://tinyurl.com/5lvt35

VIII- Haste in the issuance of forged 1018 forms led to appalling irregularities and wrongdoings
Most of the forged 1018 forms were hastily filled out on Voting Day, which led to breathtaking irregularities and wrongdoings.

For instance, there are at least seven appalling irregularities in the following 1018 form handed to a 13-year old girl in Kampong Thom province. Please click at http://tinyurl.com/57vdu8
Sometimes, one same person has been issued several 1018 forms showing different names or different ages. See examples at http://tinyurl.com/6gul5g

Sometimes, in order to deliver fake 1018 forms very quickly on Voting Day, a CPP local official acted as witness to certify the applicant's identity but he did so by putting his fingerprints in advance on empty 1018 forms. These are to be filled out later for illegitimate voters whose real identity was not known yet when the fingerprints were put on the document. See examples at http://tinyurl.com/68v458

Some 1018 forms bear the official commune stamp but show no photos, and therefore could be fraudulently used by anybody. See examples at http://tinyurl.com/5abu9t

Another revealing mistake: On a forged 1018 form the CPP commune chief put on the holder's photo the stamp of the Commune Election Committee (CEC), which reports to the NEC, instead of the stamp of his commune office. On the document, a 25-year-old man was given the identity of an 82-year-old ghost! This shows the NEC's responsibility in the forgery of a public document. To see the incredible document please click at http://tinyurl.com/5cxkn2

IX- NEC cannot tell how many 1018 forms have been issued

As of today there has been no answer to opposition leader Sam Rainsy's August 13, 2008 letter to NEC President Im Suosdey asking how many 1018 forms have been issued for the last election. See letter in Khmer at http://tinyurl.com/3rs6ru

NEC Secretary General Tep Nitha has confessed that he doesn't know how many 1018 forms have been issued. In The Cambodia Daily , August 15, 2008, he is quoted as saying, "the NEC does not keep any record of how many 1018 forms are used by voters in the [July 27, 2008] election", leaving all such reckoning to the commune chiefs - the very people that might be improperly issuing them in the first place. See press report at http://tinyurl.com/5eo33w

Read comment on Tep Nitha's statement at http://tinyurl.com/3ecmw6

In relation with the issuance of forged 1018 forms the opposition SRP has filed criminal lawsuits against CPP commune chiefs who are involved in the forgery of a public document. See details of the lawsuits at http://tinyurl.com/5eo3yn and http://tinyurl.com/42r69l
X- Independent report on the issue of 1018 form

An independent and detailed report on the issue of the 1018 form being used as a tool for election fraud can be read at http://tinyurl.com/5eo33w

CONCLUSION

Forged 1018 forms were methodically and systematically issued throughout the country in order to substantially inflate the number of votes for the CPP. To see a sample of some 200 ready-to-be-used 1018 forms collected from all parts of Cambodia, which were fraudulently filled out using ghost voters' names, please click at http://tinyurl.com/6cmh94

Each case shows the real identity of an illegitimate voter as shown in his/her ID card as well as the fake identity given to him/her as shown on the forged 1018 form. Both documents show the same photo of the same person.

The above-mentioned cases and incidents show that the issuance of forged 1018 forms corresponded to the implementation of a well-planned scheme that was conducted on a large scale, nationwide, with a significant impact on the election results. The forged 1018 forms that we have exposed were not isolated and fortuitous cases: They reflect the general pattern of a massive election fraud. In fact, hundreds of thousands of 1018 forms were fraudulently issued, inflating by the same amount votes "won" by the CPP.

With regard to the impact of this fraud on the election results, it can be shown that as few as five fraudulent 1018 forms per polling station in a given constituency could unfairly deprive the opposition of a parliamentary seat in that constituency (see sensitivity analyses at http://tinyurl.com/4275dz ).

In fact the 1018 form was an essential election trick for the CPP to secure its "landslide victory" on July 27, 2008.

For more evidence of election rigging nationwide by the CPP-controlled National Election Committee, please click at http://tinyurl.com/4eegak

In particular, please read "New evidence of disenfranchisement of non-CPP voters: voter list cleaning and political opponent cleansing" by clicking at http://tinyurl.com/45mfpu and "What election observers did not see in a rigged election" by clicking at http://tinyurl.com/6gw3rz

SRP Members of Parliament

Sam Rainsy Party Member of Parliament-Elect To Answer Questions of Kampot Court

Phnom Penh, September 5, 2008
Source: SRP

Sam Rainsy Party Member of Parliament-Elect To Answer Questions of Kampot Court

On Tuesday 9 September, 2008, Mu Sochua, MP-elect will appear in Kampot Court to answer questions concerning a complaint she filed on 7 July, 2008, following physical assault by San Sman, a general of the Cambodian Armed Forces.

On the fifth day of the campaign, Mu Sochua, SRP candidate in Kampot spotted a car carrying a license plate of the Cambodian Armed Forces with a big CPP poster on both sides of the car. When she was trying to take a photograph of the car, the owner, a general of the Cambodian Armed Forces and chief of the Border Control unit in Kompong Trach district, Kampot province stopped her. Mu Sochua, knowing that the only chance of proof was to have a picture of the car, attempted to stop the car as the owner was ordering his driver to leave with the car. During the argument, the army general assaulted Mu Sochua and her shirt became undone, leaving her half-naked in front of a crowd of men. Mu Sochua was dragged for about 3 meters by the car that was attempting to leave the scene as the general continued to give his order. Had she not let go off the car, she could have received grave harm to herself.

The Sam Rainsy Party issued a statement strongly condemning such act of violence and any act of violence against its candidates and candidates of any political party.

For more information contact:
012 831 040

SRP: NEC Rejects SRP'S Decisive Complaint Without Giving Any Reason

August 13, 2008
Source: SRP

NEC REJECTS SRP'S DECISIVE COMPLAINT WITHOUT GIVING ANY REASON

The National Election Committee (NEC) yesterday rejected the complaint for the most serious irregularities at the national level that the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) had lodged immediately after the official preliminary results of the July 27 elections proclaimed by the NEC on August 9.

Details about this complaint are presented in the August 12 SRP statement "Last leg of election process makes façade of democracy collapse." http://tinyurl.com/6dyks2

At a closed-door meeting the NEC quickly decided to reject the SRP's complaint without organizing any hearing to hear the plaintiff in the presence of independent national and international observers.

The NEC considered not necessary to publicly examine the evidence provided by the SRP. Evidence of the most serious and large-scale (nationwide) irregularities can be seen through several links presented at http://tinyurl.com/6dyks2

SRP's complaint in Khmer at http://tinyurl.com/669x98
NEC's rejection letter in Khmer at http://tinyurl.com/6a3xb8

SRP denounces election fraud

Cambodians look for their registration numbers outside a polling station located at the base of the Preah Vihear temple, about 250 km (152 miles) northeast of Siem Reap, July 27, 2008. Cambodians voted on Sunday in an election likely to bestow another five-year term on long-time Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose standing has been boosted by a nationalist spat with Thailand over a 900-year-old temple. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

27 July 2008
By A.L.G Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

The SRP denounced several irregularities which would have been observed in the days leading to the ballot casting.

Hundreds of names would have been deleted from the voting list in Sangkat Boeng Tumpun, Meanchey district, the Sam Rainsy party (SRP) denounced in a communiqué issued on 26 July. “Of those who were left off the list, most had the appropriate documentation in hand to prove it,” SRP said.

“Many of these people had discovered several months earlier that their names were not on the voter list. Then, they complained to the electoral officials who reassured them, but today they discover that their names are still missing from the voter list.”

Furthermore, the SRP also reported incidents which took place during the last days of the election campaign: On 25 July, in Battambang, Yoob Vasy and Chea Saroeun, two young 21-year-old SRP activists, were brutalized by CPP activists near a demonstration to support Sam Rainsy. Later, stones were thrown on the SRP parade, hurting Suon Chamroeun, the president of the SRP youth movement in Battambang, and Chea Keo, the fourth SRP candidate.

Also, according to the SRP, on 25 July, CPP members made several visits to Kampot voters trying to buy their votes. Such practices were observed last weekend and CPP members paid 10,000 riels ($2.50) for each vote they can buy. On 24 July, the CPP was fined 5 million riels ($1,250) by the provincial election committee (PEC) for such illegal activities, the SRP reported.