Independent Monitors Say Election Beset With Irregularities

Election monitors said Monday that irregularities at polling stations during Sunday’s vote were widespread, and preliminary results released by the government do not necessarily reflect the true will of the electorate. At a press conference in Phnom Penh, Transparency International (T.I.) executive director Preap Kol said findings from 906 observers in 407 polling stations around the country had shown that many voters were unable to cast a ballot on election day. … The T.I. findings show that in 60 percent of polling stations, there were people registered to vote who were unable to find their names on the lists tacked to the walls outside. However, T.I. did not say how many cases of irregularities were recorded. “Upon seeing the irregularities, T.I. is very concerned. The issues are consistent with the warnings to the NEC [National Election Committee] by independent organizations,” he added. “T.I. regrets that the NEC didn’t address all these concerns provided to it in recommendations.” Like the CNRP, T.I. has also called for the establishment of an independent body to investigate the cause of the irregularities and how they may have affected the outcome of the election. The CNRP on Monday also announced that it had rejected the results on the back of reports that up to 1 million people could have been disenfranchised by not being able to find their name on the voter list. The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) also published the results of its preliminary count Monday and found that the CPP took 49.49 percent of the vote, to the CNRP’s 43.05. Comfrel’s findings give 67 seats to the CPP and 56 to the CNRP, one more seat to the opposition than the CPP claimed in its preliminary results. …

 The Cambodia Daily
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/independent-monitors-say-election-beset-with-irregularities-37391/