Parties Approved for National Election Up to 10

The National Election Com­mittee has given approval to 10 of the 12 parties that applied to run in July’s national election, officials said Monday, but has had to briefly de­lay its decision on the Khmer De­m­o­­cratic Party.

Of the two parties that have yet to receive approval, the NEC has al­ready rejected the application of the United People of Cambodia, which ap­pealed the committee’s decision with the Con­stitutional Council on May 17. The NEC is still processing the KDP’s application.

NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha said by telephone that the committee had approved four more parties Monday, bringing the total to 10. Among those approved Monday were the SRP and Fun­cinpec, meaning all of na­tion’s bigg­est contenders are officially registered for the election.

The NEC was supposed to have finished reviewing all of the parties’ candidate applications by Monday, Tep Nytha said, but the committee has not finished going over those from the KDP because the party turned in a series of changes an hour after Monday’s 5 pm deadline.

“If the [KDP] replaced problematic candidates with correct reserve ones, we expect to announce the approval of their registration” Tuesday, he said.

KDP President Uk Phourik said he was thankful that NEC staffers were willing to keep their doors open late Monday to allow his party to submit the needed chang­es.

He said that the reason for the delay lay with difficulties getting the proper candidate verification letters from commune officials.

“NEC and commune officials don’t cooperate well. Political parties are victims,” Uk Phourik said. “All sides made small mistakes.”

Ouk Sarun, an NEC official responsible for checking the KDP’s forms, confirmed Monday evening that the party had submitted all the necessary documents and that a decision would likely be made Tuesday.

Founded in 1946, the KDP is the oldest political party looking to compete in the national election. It was also the most successful small party in the 2003 election.

Tith Tha, deputy president of the United People of Cambodia, said Monday that his party has not yet received any decision from the Constitutional Council, which he said has one more week to rule on their election registration application.