By Neou Vannarin and Matt Blomberg
Election observers on Wednesday released a joint statement regarding the fallout from the disputed national election,
calling for a recount of votes in Kandal province’s Takhmao City, where
a particularly large number of irregularities were reported.
The Situation Room, a
conglomerate of NGO’s and election monitors established to oversee the
July 28 poll, found more than 10,000 irregularities across the nation
but were especially alarmed by reports from Kandal province, where Prime
Minister Hun Sen was the CPP’s No. 1 candidate for a seat in the
National Assembly.
“The irregularities in Kandal province are very concerning,
especially from polling station number 1204 in Sa’ang district’s Sa’ang
Phnom commune, [which] was closed before the [3 p.m.] deadline,” reads
the statement, adding that no 1108 form, on which vote counts were recorded, was lodged from a separate polling station in Takhmao City.
“[The Situation Room] would like to request that the Constitutional
Council and National Election Committee [NEC] check polling station
1204 and recount the vote in Takhmao commune.”
NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha repeated Wednesday that the NEC was no longer involved in the complaints process.
“The Constitutional Council is now settling these issues, it is out
of the NEC’s authority,” he said. “The votes have been counted, the
preliminarily electoral result has been released and now we are waiting
for the Constitutional Council to work.”
The joint statement said that 48 percent of the 10,000 irregularities
on election day were cases where people had arrived at polling booths
ready to cast their vote but were unable to do so, primarily because of
names missing from the voter list or incorrect data on identification documents.
The opposition CNRP has rejected preliminary election results which
show the ruling CPP taking 68 parliamentary seats to the CNRP’s 55. The
CNRP has alleged massive electoral fraud and claims that it actually won
the ballot.
The opposition has asked for an independent investigation into
irregularities and threatened mass protests if they are not
forthcoming. This has led to a buildup of police and military in and
around Phnom Penh, another issue addressed by the Situation Room on Wednesday.
“[We] would like to request that the government withdraw armed forces and weapons, which had been deployed to intimidate people,” the statement reads.
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