CNRP Decries NEC’s Use of Unsealed Voter Documents

The National Election Committee (NEC) on Sunday publicly released official election documents from Kratie province after receiving orders to investigate allegations of electoral fraud, though a substantial amount of the evidence was unsealed, raising fears the documents had been tampered with. After receiving orders from the Constitutional Council of Cambodia (CCC) to open 13 sets of sealed polling records, five were found to have been improperly sealed inside packages known as “safety box A.” … As well as the five improperly sealed packages from polling stations in Kratie province’s Svay Chareah commune, all 13 of the packages had polling results that differed from figures that were distributed to political parties and NEC officials at the commune and provincial level. The opposition CNRP and election monitors—both of which have accused the NEC of lacking independence and working on behalf of the ruling CPP—heavily criticized the NEC’s use of improperly sealed documents in its investigation of election irregularities. … Kong Ravine, head of observers for the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel), said bringing improperly sealed election documents to the table—some of which were simply wide open and others only partially shut using a piece of rope—revealed the possibility that the NEC had altered the documents ahead of Sunday’s event. “If package A is not sealed properly it means somebody can change the documents inside. Package A should be kept in a safe place and also carefully sealed,” she said. “We hope that, based on this morning, the CCC should consider [further investigations into] the safety packages,” she added. … Election monitors said that the information revealed by the safety packages from 13 polling stations, though not necessarily representative of the 19,009 polling stations nationwide, should be enough to convince the CCC that a more thorough investigation into election irregularities be conducted before a final decision is made on the results of the contested election. On polling day, copies of 1102 and 1108 forms, the initial forms on which votes are tallied and added up at polling stations, are signed off on by monitors and political parties and sealed inside a “safety box A,” the plastic package in which original copies of polling forms are meant to be secured to ensure they are not tampered with. … Asked why some of the packages had been unsealed, Prom Nhean Vicheth, a spokesman for the CCC, said it had been a simple administrative error. “The local-level administration was lacking in how it filled out the forms, but the outcome does not indicate any bias,” he said. At a press conference held at its headquarters Sunday afternoon, NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha said that the safety boxes in Kratie had not been opened or tampered with by the NEC, but were simply improperly sealed by lower-level NEC officials, many of whom he said received only one day of training. “The open package does not impact the election results. The NEC has no right to make a decision regarding this. Now only the CCC has the right to decide whether to investigate,” Mr. Nytha said.

 Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/cnrp-decries-necs-use-of-unsealed-voter-documents-40766/