Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh
27 August 2007
Opposition party leader Sam Rainsy on Monday said the National Election Committee's removal of up to 654,000 names from voter lists ahead of national election amounted to fraud.
The NEC has said it needs to clean up the voter registration, proposing to clear from them thousands of names.
But Sam Rainsy said Monday he had found at least 2,500 eligible voters whose names have been proposed to be removed from the list, proving that some constituents were being excluded from the political process ahead of next year's national elections.
"We believe this is a political reason to remove the names of those who are suspected, or those who they know for sure will not vote for the ruling party, and might vote for the opposition party," he said.
The NEC denied any political motivation for the list clean-up.
"At the time of the registration of the voters, from Sept. 15 until Oct. 20, we are prepared to remove the names of those whose names should be removed from the voter list, and we will invite those who are of voting age to register to vote," NEC Secretary-General Tep Nitha said.
This year's commune elections saw decreased voter turnout, and critics charged that confusing procedures could have discouraged potential voters.
The NEC has said it needs to clean up the voter registration, proposing to clear from them thousands of names.
But Sam Rainsy said Monday he had found at least 2,500 eligible voters whose names have been proposed to be removed from the list, proving that some constituents were being excluded from the political process ahead of next year's national elections.
"We believe this is a political reason to remove the names of those who are suspected, or those who they know for sure will not vote for the ruling party, and might vote for the opposition party," he said.
The NEC denied any political motivation for the list clean-up.
"At the time of the registration of the voters, from Sept. 15 until Oct. 20, we are prepared to remove the names of those whose names should be removed from the voter list, and we will invite those who are of voting age to register to vote," NEC Secretary-General Tep Nitha said.
This year's commune elections saw decreased voter turnout, and critics charged that confusing procedures could have discouraged potential voters.
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