The National Election Committee met yesterday with members of the opposition and ruling parties. as well as NGOs, to review voter registration plans ahead of a month-and-a-half registration period due to start on Thursday.
Sin Chumbo, deputy director of the NEC, also outlined how and when individuals or parties can file complaints about the registration process.
“Everyone can file a complaint when their name is lost from the voter list or if there are double names on the list,” Ms Chumbo said at a conference in Phnom Penh.
Any illegal or unfair activity cataloged by an individual or party can be filed between Oct 16 and Nov 20 and will be resolved by the end of the year, she added.
In addition to the complaint process, Ms Chumbo highlighted the importance of youth vote in the upcoming commune elections. The NEC has recorded nearly 48,000 new voters who were under 18 during the last election.
Speaking after the conference, Funcinpec party leader Keo Puth Rasmey said his party had been focusing its efforts on rural voters by using party activists to appeal to the people to check their names and register if they not listed.
“We’re sending two observers per commune during the voter list review and registration,” he said.
Pol Ham, spokesman for the Human Rights Party, said that they too would be sending two observers per commune. Unlike Funcinpec, however, their efforts will be focused on urban areas.
“We plan to send our observers to provinces which have many seats [in the National Assembly], not the rural areas,” he said. Mr Ham explained that a lack of funds and human resources made focusing on remote areas untenable.
Hang Puthea, executive director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free Elections in Cambodia, said that his organization would be sending more than 300 of their own observers to 300 communes across the country.
“We’re joining with all parties to appeal to people that registration is important,” he added.
