Poll workers to be ‘lightly’ punished

Rulling that neither a recount nor further investigation into voting irregularities in Kratie province was warranted, the Constitutional Council on Saturday ordered only that the National Election Committee punish polling-station workers who had failed to properly seal ballot packages – a punishment NEC officials yesterday said would be light. The Saturday hearing marked the first public inquiry ordered by the council since its investigations began two weeks ago and focused solely on documents from Kratie province, where eight out of 13 safety packets examined late last month were found to be unsealed. The opposition had called for a recount of ballots at those polling stations. “The mistakes of the polling-station officers and ballot-counting officers in eight polling stations in Svay Chreah commune must be punished according to the law stated,” Constitutional Council president Ek Sam Ol wrote in a decision released on Saturday afternoon. “[It is the] duty of the National Election Committee to take action punishing the officers who have acted illegally.” …

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