Council Weighs Election Results Appeal

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
19 August 2008

The Sam Rainsy Party filed more than 17,000 documents as evidence of vote fraud to the Constitutional Council Tuesday, in the party's final appeal contesting the results of July's election.

The leading opposition party maintains that the results of the elections, in which the ruling Cambodian People's Party claims to have won 90 of 123 National Assembly seats, are not valid.

The party, which has claimed 26 seats, has called for a nationwide re-vote, joined by the Human Rights Party in a denial of the results.

The National Election Committee ruled earlier this month the election results should stand, and the Council now has between 10 and 20 days to determine whether a hearing is necessary for the complaint.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has said he will wait to hear the results before determining whether to attempt to deadlock the government by boycotting a National Assembly swearing-in ceremony next month.

The SRP complaint included more than 100 administrative forms, numbered 1018, which the party claims was used in lieu of photo identification to add votes to the CPP count.

"We have additional, new evidence to support our complaint to the Constitutional Council," SRP lawyer Kong Sam On told reporters Tuesday. "We have witnesses, witness reports, form 1018, and nearly 20,000 voter's with their names omitted [from registries]."

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Tuesday he had no faith in the Constitutional Council.

"We've come here for hopelessness," he said. "But we must follow the procedure."

The Council's decision was likely to serve the interest of the CPP only, he said.

The Council has denied two previous SRP appeals. The Council upheld a fine against the party for insulting CPP leaders, and denied a hearing on the validity of the 1018 forms for voter registration.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Two Ting-Mong (Scarecrows)

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Lack of Accountability Resulted in Disenfranchisement of Voters: Mu Sochua

Letter published in The Cambodia Daily, August 18, 2008

Lack of Accountability Resulted in Disenfranchisement of Voters

Responses given by the president and secretary-general of the National Election Committee in the article "NEC Rejects SRP Complaint on Election Fraud" (August 14, page 28), demonstrate the complete lack of accountability of the most senior members of the national institution charged with conducting free and fair elections in Cambodia. As a result of such lack of accountability, key international standards were not met and millions of voters were disenfranchised.

The SRP has sound evidence that hundreds of thousands forged 1018 forms were issued for the 2008 election. According to Article 53 of the amended Election Law, the NEC delegates the power to register voters to commune chiefs. CPP commune chiefs abused this power by issuing 1018 forms to people who were not eligible to vote. However, from a legal point of view, the NEC remains ultimately responsible for the fraud.

The NEC claims that falsified 1018 forms do not fall under its jurisdiction since "the forms are issued by commune councilors and not by election workers." But these falsified forms did have an impact on the election results. It is the duty of the NEC to ensure these results reflect a free and fair electoral process. Therefore the falsified forms most certainly fall under the NEC's jurisdiction and responsibility.

The election results should be re-calculated to reflect the true will of the Cambodian people by considering the large-scale disenfranchisement of non-CPP voters and the use of fraudulent documents [to illegitimate voters to inflate the number of CPP votes]. The SRP continues to collect these forged forms daily while the NEC refuses to accept them as evidence of fraud. The NEC clearly fears legal consequences and the potential reversal of election results that would give the CPP fewer seats.

An analysis conducted with the help of independent experts found that as few as five forged voter registration forms or five disenfranchised non-CPP voters per polling station deprived the opposition of one National Assembly seat. The SRP invites readers to examine this analysis at the SRP website, http://tinyurl.com/63zuyc

The SRP agrees with the NEC secretary-general that the commune chiefs who forged documents must be brought to justice. However, the NEC delegated full power to these commune chiefs, well aware that they had been abusing this power since the 2007 Commune Election. Must the NEC not also be held responsible?

The SRP calls on the Constitutional Council to act independently and give justice to millions of voters whose constitutional rights were denied on July 27. The SRP urges governments of signatory nations of the [1991] Paris Peace Accords to fulfill their duties with vigilance and allow Cambodia to move forward as a democratic nation.

Mu Sochua
Deputy Secretary-General
Sam Rainsy Party

Sam Rainsy Goes To The Constitutional Council On August 19

August 18, 2008
Source: SRP

SAM RAINSY GOES TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL ON AUGUST 19

The SRP is summoned by the Constitutional Council on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 in relation with its main election complaints that have been recently rejected by the National Election Committee.

Accompanied by his party's lawyers, SRP President Sam Rainsy will go in person to bring new and irrefutable evidence of election fraud to the Constitutional Council tomorrow at 03.00 pm.

The evidence and all related documents will also be provided to, and shared with, journalists, observers and all interested persons.

SRP Cabinet

For more information please call 092 888 001 or 092 888 002

Cambodia: CPP Wins Almost 60% of Vote

Monday August 11, 2008
VNA (Hanoi)

PHNOM PENH, Aug 11 Asia Pulse - The Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) won 58.1 per cent of the popular vote in the July 27 general election, according to figures released by the National Election Commission (NEC) on August 9.

NEC also said that with 21.9 per cent of vote, the Sam Rainsy Party is the CPP's nearest rival.

According to a NEC official, turnout was 75.21 per cent or six million of the 8.1 million eligible voters.

But the official declined to say how many parliamentary seats each party had won before a further announcement next month in which full official results will be revealed.

The Sam Rainsy Party on the same day rejected the outcome and demanded a re-run.

Earlier, the CPP claimed it had captured at least 90 of the 123 seats in Parliament.