Voter numbers on the rise, national election body says

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

A voter drops his ballot into a ballot box at Wat Phnom High School during the commune elections held in May of last year.

The number of eligible voters in Cambodia has risen by 2 percent, the National Election Committee (NEC) said Thursday, following its annual campaign in October to revise voter rolls throughout the Kingdom.

The NEC’s Em Sophat told a press conference that the total number of voters on the new list had increased to 8,331,906 people, with 16,538 polling stations nationwide.

“The numbers of voters and polling stations has increased because of our promotional efforts,” Em Sophat said, added that the NEC had tabulated its findings electronically to ensure accuracy.

A press release from the NEC added that 167,391 voters had been eliminated from the registration list because they had died or changed residences.

Opposition leaders and rights groups have expressed concern that victims of forced evictions will be prevented from voting as a result of the process, as they are expunged from voter rolls in their former locations but lose their identification documents during the eviction process or are not re-registered at their relocation sites.

Em Sophat maintained, however, that the NEC had endeavoured to represent the interests of all Cambodians with its latest effort.

“The NEC is very careful when it makes changes to the voter lists,” he said. “Our process of updating the voter lists is better than before because we have not received complaints from any residents or political parties.”

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