Opposition Senator Begins US Trip in Wake of Elections

Ho Vann is an SRP senator for Phnom Penh. Photo: VOA Khmer

Wednesday, 04 July 2012
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

“The election is still flawed and cheating.”

Ho Vann, a newly elected Cambodian senator for the opposition, begins a monthlong trip to the US this week to meet with supporters of the Sam Rainsy Party and update them on the current political situation.

Speaking from Lowell, Mass., Monday, Ho Vann said he was meeting with supporters to describe election irregularities from June’s polls and to seek input on next year’s election.

“The election is still flawed and cheating,” he said.

He himself was unable to properly observe voting in June, he said. Local officials did not let him know the names of voters or observe those getting voter IDs. Practices like this prevented opposition supporters from voting, he said.

ករណី​លោក​គង់ គៀត ឆ្លុះ​បញ្ចាំង​ពី​ការ​ឈ្នះឆ្នោត​របស់​បក្ស​ប្រជាជន ដោយក្លែងបន្លំ - Election fraud in Cambodia

ករណី​លោក​គង់ គៀត ឆ្លុះ​បញ្ចាំង​ពី​ការ​ឈ្នះឆ្នោត​របស់​បក្ស​ប្រជាជន ដោយក្លែងបន្លំ

Thursday, 03 November 2011 12:01
សម រង្ស៊ី (សមាជិក​សភា ​ជាប់ឆ្នោត​)
The Phnom Penh Post

នៅ​ក្នុង​អត្តបទ​ចុះ​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​ ១ វិច្ឆិកា​ ដែល​មាន​ចំណងជើង​ថា «​ការ​សុំ​សិទ្ធិ​ជ្រកកោន​របស់​សមរង្ស៊ី» ​អគ្គលេខា​ធិការ​នៃ​គណៈ​កម្មាធិការ​ជាតិ​រៀបចំ​ការ​បោះឆ្នោត​ (គជប) បាន​ថ្លែង​ថា លោក​មិន​ដឹង​អំពី​ពាក្យ​បណ្តឹង​ ដែល​គណបក្ស​សម​រង្ស៊ី​ ដាក់ប្តឹង​គណបក្ស​ប្រជាជន​កម្ពុជា ​​ភ្លាមៗ ​បន្ទាប់ពី​ការ​បោះឆ្នោត​ជាតិ​ថ្ងៃ​ទី ​២៧ ខែកក្កដា ឆ្នាំ​ ២០០៨​ នោះទេ​។

គណបក្ស​សម​រង្ស៊ី​បាន​ចោទ​គណបក្ស​ប្រជាជន​កម្ពុជា​ ពីបទ​ក្លែងបន្លំ​ ពាក់ព័ន្ធ​នឹង​ឯកសារ​អត្ត​សញ្ញាណ​ប័ណ្ណ​ក្លែង​ក្លាយ​មួយ​ ហៅ​ទម្រង់ ១០១៨ ធ្វើ​ឡើង​ដោយ​លោក សួស សារិន ​ចៅ​សង្កាត់​បឹង​ទំពុន នៅ​ក្នុង​ខណ្ឌ​មាន​ជ័យ រាជ​ធានី​ភ្នំពេញ ទៅ​ឲ្យ​អ្នក​បោះឆ្នោត​ខុស​ច្បាប់​ម្នាក់ ឈ្មោះ​ គង់ គៀត។

ក្រោម​សម្ពាធ​ពី​គណបក្ស​ប្រជាជន​កម្ពុជា​ លោក គង់ គៀត បាន​បោះឆ្នោត​ទាំង​ក្លែង​បន្លំ​ ឲ្យ​គណបក្ស​ប្រជាជន​ ប៉ុន្តែ​ភ្លាមៗ​នោះ​ គាត់​បាន​មក​ជួប​ខ្ញុំ​ បង្ហាញ​ការ​ពិត​ ហើយ​បាន​ប្រកាស​អំពី​ការ​ក្លែងបន្លំ​ការ​បោះឆ្នោត ​រៀបចំ​ឡើង​ដោយ​គណបក្ស​ប្រជាជន​កម្ពុជា​។

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy calls on the International community not to recognize the election results

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01 Nov 2011
By Tin Zakariya
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Soy

Sam Rainsy, the self-exiled Cambodian opposition leader, announced that he is currently conducting a campaign to call on the International community not to recognize the results of the upcoming commune and national elections if the ruling CPP party does not reform the National Election Committee (NEC) structure and bring in independence to this institution.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy criticized the NEC which is under the management thumb of the CPP, i.e. the current ruling party in Cambodia.

“We must put pressure on the ruling party so that it creates equity at the NEC, so that it reorganizes the election system for the better in order for the election to truly reflect the will of the people. But, if we keep the current election system, elections in Cambodia will remain a sham and the International community should not stamp such sham elections.”

Election fraud in Cambodia recognized by observers from the European Union

November 1, 2011

The Editor
The Phnom Penh Post
Phnom Penh

Sir,

In your November 1 article “Rainsy asylum claim” the secretary general of the National Election Committee (NEC) said he was “unaware” of a lawsuit the SRP filed against the CPP immediately after the July 27, 2008 national election. The SRP accused the CPP of forgery in relation to a fake ID document called Form 1018 delivered by the CPP-affiliated chief of Boeung Tumpun commune in the capital city’s Meanchey district, Mr. Suos Sarin, to an illegitimate voter named Kong Kiet. Under pressure from the CPP, Mr. Kong Kiet did fraudulently cast a ballot for the ruling party but he shortly after came to see me to expose the truth and to denounce the CPP-organized election fraud. Just after his courageous decision to stand as a witness against the CPP, Mr. Kong Kiet escaped arrest by the police and was forced to go into hiding for more than three years. He was given political asylum in U.S.A. only last week and now lives in North Carolina with his wife and their three children.

I would like to specify that the SRP filed the criminal lawsuit against the CPP not at the NEC but at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court (attached herewith is the SRP legal complaint dated August 25, 2008).

Mr. Kong Kiet’s case is not an isolated one but reflects the pattern of a massive election fraud that contributed nationwide to the CPP “landslide victory” in 2008. This “astonishing success” was largely obtained through, on the one hand, countless ghost names on CPP-controlled voter lists, and on the other hand, fake ID documents called Forms 1018 using the above ghost names delivered by the CPP to countless illegitimate voters but real human beings. To illustrate the fraud pattern I have documented countless cases similar to Mr. Kong Kiet’s throughout the country and have exposed them at http://tinyurl.com/4272v3e

During and after the 2008 election campaign I met with many independent observers, especially those from the European Union (EU), and drew their attention to this form of election fraud using the Form 1018. I am grateful to eventually read in the final report of the EU Election Observation Mission to Cambodia published on October 13, 2008 this “Essential Recommendation” from the EU observer team: ”The use of the Form 1018 should be abolished prior to any future election.” Read the full EU Report at http://tinyurl.com/3fgsnxa

Final remark: The Phnom Penh Municipal Court, under the orders of the CPP, did nothing with the above-mentioned complaint for forgery that the SRP lodged against the CPP in 2008. They just buried it and forgot about it! But when it comes to any complaint lodged by the CPP against me, such as the one – also for forgery – the Hun Sen Government lodged against me in 2009 for posting on the Internet a map produced by the U.S. Army and published on the Web a long time ago, the same Phnom Penh Municipal Court was very quick to prosecute me and to hand down on me a 10-year jail sentence!

Sincerely,

Sam Rainsy

Elected Member of Parliament

Rainsy asylum claim

Kong Kiet and wife working during their stay in Thailand

Tuesday, 01 November 2011
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said yesterday a Cambodian man and his family had gained political asylum in the United States after escaping arrest three years ago when he stepped forward to allege electoral fraud by the ruling party during the 2008 national ballot.

In a statement yesterday, Rainsy said Kong Kiet, of the capital’s Meanchey district, along with his wife and three children, had not been a registered voter during the 2008 election, but “CPP-controlled authorities” had given him and others money and fake identification, allowing them to cast ballots for the CPP at polling stations.

“Because he dared to publicly expose the truth and to . . . . testify in the complaint that the SRP lodged against the CPP authorities, the police came to arrest Mr Kong Kiet, who luckily managed to escape,” Rainsy said, adding that Kong Kiet and his family had lived in a “neighbouring country” before attaining asylum.

"A Voteless People Is A Hopeless People"

Voter Education/Registration Program
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

"A Voteless People is a Hopeless People" was initiated as a National Program of Alpha during the 1930's when many African-Americans had the right to vote but were prevented from voting because of poll taxes, threats of reprisal, and lack of education about the voting process. Voter education and registration has remained a dominant focus of this outreach activity for over 65 years. In the 1990's, the focus has shifted to include political awareness and empowerment, delivered most frequently through town meetings and candidate forums.

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KI-Media Note: Cambodians have the right to vote, but the authority made it so difficult for poor Cambodians to obtain an identification which is necessary to register for voting, that many Cambodians ended up not voting.

New Evidence Of Disenfranchisement Of Non-CPP Voters: Voter List Cleaning and Political Opponent Cleansing

September 23, 2008
Source: SRP

NEW EVIDENCE OF DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF NON-CPP VOTERS:
VOTER LIST CLEANING AND POLITICAL OPPONENT CLEANSING

We have collected new evidence showing a massive disenfranchisement of non-CPP voters.

As of today, 30,115 disenfranchised citizens have protested against the loss of their voting right. See petition with translation in English at http://tinyurl.com/4oeyeg

If, with our limited means and in less than two months, we could identify over 30,000 legitimate voters who tried to vote on July 27 but were not able to do so, and if we could convince them, in the current atmosphere of fear and intimidation, to sign or thumbprint a petition denouncing the authorities, it means that a much larger number of potential voters faced the same voting problem on July 27 and have the same grievance now.

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA) which quoted several reliable sources, over one million voters were disenfranchised because they were suspected of sympathy for the opposition. Read summary in English of the RFA's report at http://tinyurl.com/4osh3t

Actually, the disenfranchisement of non-CPP supporters through manipulation of voter lists started in 2006 and continued until February 2008, thus predetermining the results of the July 27, 2008 election. See relevant press articles at http://tinyurl.com/4pjmgj

In 2007, the opposition rang the alarm bell by issuing a warning titled: "Voter list cleaning and political opponent cleansing." Another SRP statement clearly explained that, under the pretext of "cleaning up" the voter register, the CPP-controlled National Election Committee (NEC) was actually deleting names of eligible voters but keeping ghost voters on the electoral rolls for ballot tampering. See relevant statements at http://tinyurl.com/3o9t9v

The NEC has never responded to a letter from opposition leader Sam Rainsy asking for evidence or reasons justifying the deletion of 585,723 voters' names. Voters should not be required to prove that that they are "not dead" or have "not moved" from the commune. See summary in English of Sam Rainsy's letter protesting against the illegal reversal of the burden of the proof, by clicking at http://tinyurl.com/6eyahu

In June 2008, the Washington-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) estimated that "57,000 voters were wrongly stricken from voter rolls." But any post-election survey now will prove that many more voters were improperly and unfairly disenfranchised through various tricks before and on Voting Day. See corresponding press article at http://tinyurl.com/4j6wrh

The disenfranchisement of non-CPP voters did have a big impact on the election results. As few as five disenfranchised non-CPP voters per polling station unfairly deprived the opposition of one National Assembly seat for a given province/constituency. For instance, the SRP lacks only 1,727 votes to win a parliamentary seat for Svay Rieng province, 3,423 votes to obtain a seat for Pursat province, and 3,269 votes to conquer an additional seat for Kampot province. The HRP lacks only 1,745 votes to win an additional seat for Kampong Cham province, and 3,178 votes to obtain a seat for Kampong Speu province. Sensitivity analyses at http://tinyurl.com/4275dz

No vote recount was allowed by the NEC for any ballot box at any of the 15,254 polling stations in Cambodia's 24 constituencies. See SRP and HRP's letter to U.S. President George W. Bush at http://tinyurl.com/4ly2xd

For more evidence of election rigging nationwide by the NEC and to see the general pattern of a massive election fraud, please click at http://tinyurl.com/4eegak

SRP Cabinet

How Ghost Voters Helped The CPP Win The Election

September 22, 2008
Source: SRP

HOW GHOST VOTERS HELPED THE CPP WIN THE ELECTION

In 2007 and 2008, under the pretext of "cleaning up" voter lists, the National Election Committee (NEC), which is controlled by the CPP, deliberately did the opposite of what it should have done: the NEC 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 identification documents (called 1018 Forms) which were methodically provided to them by local authorities controlled by the CPP 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.

The 1018 Form is a special voter identification document purportedly issued by local authorities for those who don't have any proper ID document. It is actually used by the holder as a voter card valid only in his/her commune of residence. It was the source of a massive election fraud at the July 27, 2008 poll.

To see a blank 1018 Form followed by an example of forgery using a ghost's identity with English translation, please click at http://tinyurl.com/4b3jyb

Evidence of fraud

The following are examples of pre-signed and pre-stamped empty 1018 Forms issued by CPP commune chiefs all over Cambodia . The documents were prepared in advance in order to be fraudulently filled out by CPP local authorities by using ghost voters' names and immediately given to illegitimate voters on Voting Day. Please click 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. As a matter of fact, 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.

Most of those forged documents were filled out with a lot of breathtaking mistakes such as in the case presented at http://tinyurl.com/57vdu8

We will present many more cases like that in the coming days.

An independent report on the issue of the 1018 Form can be read at http://tinyurl.com/5eo33w

The issuing of 1018 Forms by the CPP authorities did have a big impact on the election results. As few as five forged 1018 Forms per polling station unfairly deprived the Opposition of one National Assembly seat as shown at http://tinyurl.com/4275dz

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

SRP Cabinet

SRP: No Honest Person Or Institution Is Stupid Enough To Recognize The Results Of A Sham Election

September 2, 2008
Source: SRP

NO HONEST PERSON OR INSTITUTION IS STUPID ENOUGH
TO RECOGNIZE THE RESULTS OF A SHAM ELECTION

Today the CPP-controlled National Election Committee (NEC) proclaimed the "official results" of the July 27, 2008 national election that was manipulated on an unprecedented scale by Cambodia's ruling party. But no honest person or institution is stupid enough to overlook the massive election fraud and to recognize the results of a sham election.

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM - Cambodia) in its July 29 statement points that "2008 National Assembly Elections have fallen short of a number of key international standards for democratic elections."

The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) has been collecting worrying evidence of election fraud since Voting Day and every day brings more proof of electoral fraud of national scale.

Even though, compared to previous elections, fraud in 2008 took on a more sophisticated and more subtle form, serious long-term observers were able to detect it, especially fraud related to manipulation of voter lists which took place before Voting Day and outside the polling stations.

We have been gathering an ever increasing amount of evidence of such manipulation of voter lists, which we have published on our website http://tinyurl.com/4eegak. The evidence presented is largely what inexperienced short-term observers could not see in a sophistically rigged election (See our July 29 statement: "What [naive and lazy] election observers did not see in a rigged election").

Our Web site http://tinyurl.com/4eegak is updated on a daily basis and provides more and more irrefutable evidence that the July 27, 2008 was really a sham election.

The countless and various irregularities exposed on our Web site http://tinyurl.com/4eegak do not reflect isolated and fortuitous incidents but show the general pattern of a massive and systematic election fraud, which led today to "official election results" that seriously distort the will of the Cambodian people.

SRP Members of Parliament

For more information please call 012 858 857 or 012 831 040

Sam Rainsy: "The con men are afraid, and this can be seen by the fact that they don’t want a new recount, not even in a single election precinct"

Constitutional Council rejects Sam Rainsy’s request for vote recount in Svay Rieng

26 August 2008
By Ung Chamroeun
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the original article in French

The Constitution Council judges qualified the SRP request as being unreasonable. The opposition leader called the session a theatrical show.

After being rejected by the National Election Council (NEC) on 12 August, the SRP complaint – which demands for a ballot recount in 129 of the 650 election precincts in the province of Svay Rieng – was examined on Tuesday 26 August by the Constitutional Council presided by Ek Sam Ol.

Sam Rainsy observed that a large number of frauds took place in Svay Rieng. The names of several voters who do not agree to the CPP ideas were removed from the voting lists. He indicated also that these people did not move from their current address. Furthermore, there were individuals who took over the identity of other voters to vote in their place. Up to now, Sam Rainsy assured that he had received more than 20,000 thumbprints from voters who were victimized by the fraud.

Sam Rainsy denounced the fact that forms 1014, used to count the number of votes, which were established by the NEC and the CPP, do not correspond to the conclusions by observers from his party. He then proposed for the ballot recounting in 129 of the 650 precincts in Svay Rieng, because he estimated that the number announced by the NEC inflated the number of votes obtained by the CPP.

Sam Rainsy and his lawyer submitted the documents involved as well as the thumbprints obtained to the Constitutional Council. In spite of all these, Ek Sam Ol, the president of the session, judged that the SRP request was unreasonable, while invoking the absence of irrefutable proofs and that the SRP documents were false. “It is impossible to have a new recount,” Ek Sam Ol said.

“This audience is worthy a theatrical show. In reality, the ending was written in advance. The con men are afraid, and this can be seen by the fact that they don’t want a new recount, not even in a single election precinct,” Sam Rainsy denounced in the audience room.

To Sam Rainsy, it is very improbable that the CPP could obtain 5 seats in the province of Svay Rieng.