Statement by a CPP Election Working Group member: The July 27, 2008 election was not fair

Translation of a statement by a CPP Election Working Group member

THE JULY 27, 2008 ELECTION WAS NOT FAIR

As a member of a CPP [Election] Working Group I can say that the July 27, 2008 legislative election was marred by irregularities and was not fair. For example, in Memot district [in Kampong Cham province]:

I- Threats, intimidation, human rights violations and fake 1018 forms using ghosts' names

a) Threats were made to Memot rubber plantation workers: "Those who support the opposition will be fired and expelled from their village" [worker villages are controlled by CPP-affiliated plantation managers].

b) Human rights violations were perpetrated on those who are suspected of sympathy for the opposition: They were threatened and intimidated into supporting only the CPP.

c) Regarding fake 1018 forms using ghosts' names, a large number of such documents were issued by CPP officials especially commune chiefs and village chiefs. Three or four days before Voting Day, commune chiefs and village chiefs met to prepare the issuance of fake 1018 forms and to discuss other issues.

II- A special case

On July 17, 2008 [ten days before Voting Day] a high-ranking CPP official, H.E. Ouk Bun Chhoeun [a Senator and Chairman of the Senate Committee # 6] came to Memot district and told our local officials (commune chiefs and village chiefs) to issue fake 1018 forms and to implement other measures so as to increase votes for the CPP. He told the local [Election] Working Group: "Don't worry. If there are complaints [or lawsuits filed against us by the opposition], we have our supporters at the National Election Committee (NEC). And if [the complaints] reach [following appeal proceedings] the Constitutional Council, this body is exclusively made up of our supporters and nothing [bad to us] will happen."

[Written on] September 01, 2008

[Thumbprint and signature]

[Name]

CPP [Election] Working Group member

The name, thumbprint, signature, official position of the statement's author are not published here for security reasons. But the original hand-written statement in Khmer with all the data related to its author has been shown to independent human rights organizations and EU election observers, who have even interviewed him.

For more evidence of election rigging nationwide by the CPP-controlled National Election Committee, please click at http://tinyurl.com/4eegak