500 registered voter of 8 commune in Me Moth District, Tboug Khmom Province had complaint about their names were not on the preliminary voter list that had been disclosure since 3 January 2017. In response, the Provincial Election Secretariat had been aware of this and is finding the solution by the legal framework accordingly.
The opposition CNRP said on Tuesday it was preparing to submit complaints to the National Election Committee (NEC) about almost 5,000 Vietnamese voters it says were registered to vote without citizenship, a move criticized as continuing the party’s tradition of populist Vietnam-bashing. The CNRP’s head of electoral and legislative affairs, Meng Sopheary, said the party was in the process of asking local authorities to strike off the names of foreigners. In provinces where its requests are denied, the party will elevate those complaints to the NEC, our observers have noticed that there are 4,893 foreigners who registered. Most of them are Vietnamese Ms. Sopheary said.
CPP supporters across the country have started nominating candidates for the upcoming commune elections in June, as the ruling party gears up for its toughest battle on the local ballot since the first elections of their kind in 2002. The full list of candidates will be finalized early next month and submitted to the National Election Committee in March. At the party congress, last month, CPP honorary President Heng Samrin predicted a victory in commune elections, following comfortable CPP victories in every vote since the government’s policy of decentralization led to the first local elections in 2002.
Cambodia National Rescue Party spokesman Yem Ponhearith told reporters yesterday that the party plans to meet City Hall officials today to discuss the construction of the opposition’s long-stalled Sun TV station on a site in Phnom Penh. Though City Hall spokesman Met Measpheakdey said he was unaware of a scheduled meeting, Ponhearith said the opposition would seek permission to construct an antenna at a property within the city limits. Ponhearith also said the previous site acquired by the party to house the antenna in Kandal province, where a local ruling party official led a campaign to block the tower, would soon be sold, with proceeds going towards equipment for the station.
The Minister of Cults and Religion has agreed to review laws governing the issuance of identification cards to monks which, in its current state, limits their right to vote.
After answering questions at the National Assembly’s seventh commission, minister Him Chhem said they will be working on the various issues raised, including the development of the National Buddhist Institution, the expansion of the Buddhist University and the wages of monks.
Now, bureaucratic hurdles such as the need for identifiable hair to obtain a government ID card, which is a requirement for voters in the country, stands in their way.
One recently proposed stand-in for an ID card is a birth certificate plus some sort of documentation regarding the monk’s status.Such an accommodation could break new ground in the decades-long struggle over equal voting rights for the group. Those in the monkhood were granted suffrage by the government in 1993.
However, solutions are still being informally discussed and no decisions regarding new voter-registration practices have yet been made.
According to M.r Hang Puthea, NEC’s member and spokesperson, since 4 till 12 January 2017 NEC had received complaint around 700 in which all about wrong data entry such as misspelling and wrong date of birth. However, the complaint regarding the case of double names and Vietnamese names has yet reach NEC.