April 5, 2013
CAMBODIA MUST POSTPONE ELECTIONS SET FOR JULY AND PREPARE PROPER VOTER LISTS
Disproportionate Numbers of Women to Be Disenfranchised If Vote Proceeds as Planned
In
the light of a report this week by the Committee for Free and Fair
Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) on voter lists and registrations, it is
clear that there is no way that Cambodia will be able to hold genuine
elections in July.
Comfrel
found that 13.5% of registered voters, or 1.25 million citizens, were
not on the voter lists for the elections. Nearly two-thirds of these
citizens (62.8%) are women. In addition, the National Election Committee
(NEC) has registered about 300,000 names who are not eligible to vote
(ghost or fraudulent voters) (1).
The
findings confirm and amplify the results of the audit published by the
National Democratic Institute (NDI) in March. This showed that "the quality
of voter lists has declined by every measure since 2008," when
elections were denounced by European Union observers as falling "short
of international standards." The NDI found that 25.8% of names on the
electoral register belong to people who, in all likelihood, won’t vote
at the assigned place, and that 17.1% of eligible citizens were either
not registered or de-registered (2).
The
Cambodian government last year rejected recommendations from the United
Nations for thorough reform of the NEC. It is now clear and beyond
dispute that the will of the Cambodian people can't be democratically
and properly reflected in the elections scheduled for July 28. Time has
run out. The international community cannot accept such a level of fraud
and disenfranchisement. To allow Cambodia's poll to proceed as planned would be to breach the 1991 Paris peace accords, which call for "genuine elections."
There
is therefore no other solution than to postpone the elections until
valid electoral lists can be produced. The precedent of Bangladesh in
2007 and 2008 shows that a new and high-quality electoral register can
be quickly created, given cross-party political will and the support of
the United Nations.
If
the vote takes place as scheduled on July 28, then the international
community must refuse to acknowledge the results. The Cambodian people
deserve meaningful elections at a later date, rather than a timely
charade that has been identified as such in advance.
Sam RainsyPresident of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP)
Leader of Cambodia’s united democratic opposition
(1)The Comfrel report is available here: http://comfrel.org/eng/
(2) National Democratic Institute's key findings and recommendations are summarised here: http://cald.org/site/
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