Questions Raised Over Forms Used for Voters With No ID
Of the nearly 800,000 forms issued to voters without identification for use in the July 28 election, about 270,000 were issued between the end of the voter registration period and the election itself, raising concerns among observers they could have been used fraudulently. According to National Election Committee (NEC) Secretary-General Tep Nytha, about 480,000 new Identity Certificates for Elections (ICE) forms were issued during the registration period in late 2012, while a further 270,000 were issued in the lead-up to the election. … Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, said the ICE issue “is very significant, and the process of issuing it was not transparent,” because there appears to be no record of who received the ICEs and for what reasons. That coupled with the 1 million ICE forms issued for the June 6, 2012, commune election means there is a great concern that the glut of forms could be used for fraudulent purposes. “In 93 percent of polling stations we saw people using ICE forms…it’s very significant. And it’s not realistic because Cambodia has not experienced any major natural disaster like a storm, earthquake or tsunami, so to consider such a huge number of people losing their ID is very questionable,” Mr. Kol said. … Mr. Nytha said Thursday that he was aware of the “accusations” being made against the NEC, but that he did not believe the ICE forms had been used improperly.
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/questions-raised-over-forms-used-for-voters-with-no-id-41437/
