SRP: Voter List “cleaning” and Political Opponent Cleansing

Phnom Penh , 31 July 2007

VOTER LIST “CLEANING” AND
POLITICAL OPPONENT CLEANSING

The current process of “cleaning” voter lists provides the ruling party with an occasion to pre-determine the outcome of the 2008 National Assembly election, and the party is making full use of this opportunity. From July 12 to 26, 551,738 names were deleted from the voter rolls. Some of these, of course, represent people who have died or left the commune. But based on reports from our representatives, we believe that over two thirds of these names were deleted because the people are known or suspected opponents of the ruling party. This reflects a disenfranchisement of some 5% of the nation’s eligible voters.

Two methods are employed:

(A) Nationwide, village chiefs propose names to delete to commune councils, who vote to accept or reject the names. Many chiefs write up their names not by surveying the village, but rather by copying the names on the 2007 voter information notices that were not distributed. In theory, if a person did not receive a notice before the 2007 commune council election, then they no longer reside in the village and are therefore ineligible to vote. In reality, these notices were selectively distributed in 2007. Known or suspected opponents to the CPP were not given notices when the chief’s team did distribution. As a result, the information notices “left-over” after distribution represent not only people who had died or moved, but also known or suspected opponents of the ruling party. What was at first a one-off disenfranchisement of these voters only in the 2007 election is set to become a permanent deletion of their names from the official voting rolls.

(B) If the chiefs do canvass the village to ascertain presence or absence of persons, they often count as officially absent those voters who are not present at the time of canvassing. This of course is not correct, as many men and women leave their home communes seeking work in Phnom Penh or elsewhere, but return for holidays and voting. These people temporarily absent from their homes include migrant laborers and factory workers who generally do not support the ruling party. Their names are wrongfully erased from the voter list in their homes.

When officials are questioned, they respond that if a person feels victimized, they can come to the office to rectify the mistake. This is irrational. How would a worker who can barely afford to go home for holidays (a) know that his/her name is erased and (b) be able to afford the expense and missed work time in order to travel to the commune office to rectify this error? Such a burden is too heavy on the ordinary citizen. The authorities are creating problems that are solved only for those supporting the CPP thanks to discriminating assistance from the authorities.

Two responses can be enacted simultaneously to solve this problem:

(A) Information about the voter list cleaning should be broadly disseminated through state and private radio and television so voters are aware of the danger. On July 26, SRP President Sam Rainsy sent a letter to Im Sousdey to this effect.

(B) We must ensure that persons independent of the CPP power structure have a say in the process. The NEC therefore cannot rely exclusively on the state apparatus. The NEC should form or help to form an investigation team of people from NGOs or other political parties to monitor the name deletion. A free hand has already been given to the village chief to set the lists. We should not allow the commune council simply to rubber stamp the chief’s decisions. Now that the chiefs have submitted their names for deletion, the commune council should base its decision from recommendations from stakeholders beyond the chief, including NGOs and opposition parties.

SRP Members of Parliament