The National Election Committee (NEC) on Sunday opened official polling records for eight stations in Kandal province’s Takhmao City in accordance with complaints filed by the opposition CNRP to the Constitutional Council of Cambodia over election day irregularities in the province.
CPP representative Prum Sokha, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, said that the packages known as “safety boxes”—all of which were properly sealed—showed there were no irregularities on voting day in Takhmao.
“The opening of the safety boxes was to prove that the election result for Kandal province was fair, and this is the justice that the CNRP wanted,” Mr. Sokha said.
Though all of the safety boxes were sealed, the package for polling station 1181 included two 1108 forms, but no 1102 form.
The documents are duplicates used to count the total number of votes at a particular polling station.
Mr. Sokha said that the incident was only a minor mistake made by NEC officials.
But CNRP representative Kuoy Bunroeun said that the inconsistency could not be ignored.
“I cannot accept this case because it is contrary to the legislation” that the 1102 must also be enclosed in the safety box, he said.
Mr. Bunroeun also said that a revote needed to be held in Sa’ang Phnom commune, due to polling stations closing early on election day.
“We want the NEC to hold a re-election for this commune…but the CCC [Constitutional Council of Cambodia] rejected our request,” he said.
Constitutional Council spokesman Uth Chhorn said that the body would continue to solve the complaints that were filed by the CNRP over irregularities.
“We will solve the CNRP complaints so that the party can accept the election results, and we will hold a final hearing [on complaints] before the final result is announced on September 8,” he said.
In Kandal, where Prime Minister Hun Sen stood as a candidate, preliminary results show the CPP won with just 166 more votes than the opposition in the province.
