Reading the report of Cambodian Daily today on the irregularities of voter listing by NEC is another serious issue constraining the building of democracy in Cambodia. The random sampling of 4,900 registered eligible names of the research found that 10.8 percent or more than 500 registered voters could not find their names on the voter list. This percentage is terribly higher than national election of 2008 which was 7.7 percent.
The report also said “The accuracy of the 9.6 million-strong voter list came under fire in March and those concerns were reiterated with the release of the final version on Friday of an independent audit report, which found a number of serious errors, namely that more than 1 in 10 people who are registered for July’s election appear not to exist, and that 9 percent of past voters have been taken off local voting lists unfairly.”
With this figure, I am speechless!
It is absolutely the responsibility of the National Election Committee. If we find out that this number is true, it means NEC is incompetent and we must dissolve the current body in order to pave way for a capable body to run the election in Cambodia. However, the report on March was also illustrating the incapability of the NEC on this same issue, and this same issue has been lingering for many elections in Cambodia. Now, it is time to condemn NEC that this is a criminal act of stealing the heart, honesty and integrity of the Cambodian people.
Innocent Cambodians should not be tolerant by the incompetent act of Cambodian National Election Committee. Cambodian people must stand up and speak out loud!