As time ran out on voter registration Sunday, factory workers and members of the Sam Rainsy Party urged the government to further extend the sign-up period.
Scores of workers rallied for the second day in the Chak Angre Leu garment factory district, claiming officials were illegally preventing them from registering. Critics say the process has been poorly executed and confusing, with stations shutting down early and inflexible officials making registration difficult.
The National Election Committee last week extended the registration period for three days as complaints rose that too many people were being turned away. Officials said they see how many voters sign up before registration centers closed Sunday before deciding on another extension.
Leng Sochea, the NEC’s spokesman, said Sunday he did not know the final turnout, but the numbers might be available today. About 75 percent of eligible voters had registered as of last week, compared to more than 90 percent who voted in the last two elections.
Sek Sophal, executive director of the Coalition for a Free and Fair Election, said Sunday registration should be extended at centers with large numbers of unregistered voters, and others could shut down. “And the government should let the people know. They could use television and radio to educate the people,” he said.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who claims strong support among the nation’s 170,000 garment workers, said some workers were blocked by unsympathetic officials. Workers can either register in their home villages or in the communes where they live, usually near their factories. Sam Rainsy said authorities in the factory-heavy Chak Angre Leu district refused to deal with an influx of workers over the weekend, closing the registration office early.
Phi Thach, chief of cabinet for the Sam Rainsy Party, said workers from Chak Angre Leu rallied Saturday and Sunday, and that more than 300 have signed a petition demanding to be registered.
On Friday, the Ministry of Information banned a Sam Rainsy Party voter-information leaflet on the grounds that it unfairly attacks the government’s performance. Sam Rainsy, who also led protesters to the ministry Sunday, said that while the leaflet criticizes the government, its seizure “violates my freedom of expression and publication as a citizen and my immunity as a member of Parliament.”
(Additional reporting by Brian Calvert and Lor Chandara)
