The row between the National Election Committee and the Committee for Free and Fair Elections has continued, with Comfrel issuing a conciliatory response to an NEC report that slammed an assessment by Comfrel describing the NEC as causing “considerable damage” to the election process.
Comfrel’s statement is an explanation of its original findings, said its director, Koul Panha. “We issued this report because we didn’t want the NEC to think that Comfrel gives out false information,” he said.
The NEC thinks his organization criticized the voter registration process, Koul Panha continued, and that this assessment could mean donor countries will stop funding the NEC. In order to dispel these perceptions, Comfrel last week issued the four-page explanation “in the hope that the NEC and Comfrel could have mutual understanding and coordinate again,” Koul Panha said.
NEC spokesman Leng Sochea said on Tuesday that Comfrel’s original assessment of the registration process had been correct, but their explanation of the data was confusing.
“We responded to Comfrel because we are afraid that people will misunderstand, and donor countries will not offer to fund the NEC,” Leng Sochea said.
The NEC on March 21 issued a response to Comfrel’s assessment. “The NEC regrets that Comfrel, while working with the available statistics, has managed to misrepresent the results and misinform the public,” the report said. “Whether this has been done due to incompetence, lack of rigor or with mischievous intent it is not up to the NEC to decide.”
Comfrel’s assessment of the voter registration process found that about 400,000 eligible voters, mostly young people, monks and poor people, did not register.
Both sides say they are prepared to meet and discuss the disagreement further, although no date for a meeting has yet been set.
