City Adds 1,000 Police for Election Security

To ensure safety and political stability in Phnom Penh for the general elections, the city plans to deploy more than 1,000 municipal police during the pre-election period, city officials said Monday.

The plan, discussed Monday dur­ing the weekly meeting of city officials at City Hall, comes after the municipality de­ployed 400 police to oversee the monthlong voter registration, which ended for all communes last week.

“The municipal police are de­ploying starting [from] now to the date of voting, in order to strength­en political stability and to make the national elections process free and fair and without violence or any kinds of threats,” Suon Chheng­ly, municipal police chief, said Monday.

He said that 1,210 municipal police will be assigned to polling stations in Phnom Penh for the 30-day election campaign period, which begins in late June.

The police will be responsible for ensuring security for all candidates from all parties, Suon Chhengly said.

The city has a police force of about 2,000 officers and intends to use both intervention and pa­trol police during the four days sur­rounding the July 27 voting day, he said.

The police chief allayed fears that the police themselves could pose a potential risk by saying that those officers who are de­ployed at polling stations do not have the right to use their weap­ons—though police working outside the stations will retain that authority.

The police outside polling stations, however, do not have the right to enter the polling area un­less the polling station chief grants them permission, Suon Chhengly said.

One of the greatest fears is of grenades or other explosives be­ing used at polling stations to “create turmoil and which will prevent people from voting,” Suon Chhengly said. Police will be responsible for checking voters for weapons, he added.

Newly installed Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema said  Mon­day he endorses the deployment of city police forces.

He also suggested that the police check all individuals at the polling stations to ensure that, if they have a gun, they have a li­cense for the weapon or are soldiers or police officers.