The opposition CNRP has filed a lawsuit against three senior National Election Committee (NEC) officials, along with subordinates, for allegedly forging public documents in order to skew the July 28 election results in favor of the ruling CPP.
CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said that the lawsuit was filed with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. Sovann said the CNRP has accused NEC President Im Suosdey, Secretary-General Tep Nytha and Hoeu Rong, executive director of the operations department, with overseeing the NEC’s efforts to forge documents in order to ensure a CPP election victory.
“Whether we want to or not, we must file a complaint because we want the people and international community to see that the Constitutional Council’s decision is not just,” Mr. Sovann said.
Both the Constitutional Council of Cambodia and the NEC rejected dozens of complaints of election irregularities filed by the CNRP since the July 28 election.
The only punitive action taken thus far was an order by the Constitutional Council for the NEC to investigate and fine local officials who did not properly seal a number of “safety packages” containing official election results from polling stations.
“If we don’t sue them, we will not be able to know if the court is just or unjust, so we must file [this lawsuit],” Mr. Sovann said.
Cambodia’s courts have been widely criticized for being riddled with corruption and beholden to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling CPP. The NEC and Council are also viewed as being heavily biased toward the ruling party.
Phnom Penh Municipal Court Director Chiv Keng could not be reached for comment Thursday. Prak Savuth, chief clerk of the municipal prosecutor’s office, said he was unaware of the CNRP’s litigation.
“If they filed a complaint on September 11, maybe the Phnom Penh Municipal Court has received it,” he said.
Commenting on the lawsuit, Mr. Suosdey denied any wrongdoing in his management of the July 28 poll.
“Our stance is that we have done everything—or decided everything—based on the law. We have done nothing wrong.”
