News
Red tape ‘delays’ NEC computers
With less than two months before voter registration is due to start for the upcoming commune elections, the delivery of vital computer equipment has reportedly been delayed by two weeks due to an import duty bungle, while only a fraction of the required workers have ...
Bun Sengkong and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/red-tape-delays-nec-computers
Army to guard voting stations
Voters in next year’s elections will now have to make their choices under the watchful eye of the army after the government issued a decree yesterday establishing permanent military forces at national and sub-national election sites between 2016 and 2019. ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27376/army-to-guard-voting-stations/
NEC announces schedule for meetings with donors
The National Election Committee yesterday released a monthly meeting schedule with the European and Japanese embassies in a bid to ensure the voter-registration process, due to begin September 1, will go smoothly. ...
Bun Sengkong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nec-announces-schedule-meetings-donors
Japan confirms NEC funding
Japan will continue funding the National Election Committee (NEC) ahead of the upcoming commune and national elections, despite growing international concern over Cambodia’s deteriorating political climate. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/26900/japan-confirms-nec-funding/
Election staffing set to kick off on Wednesday
Recruitment of 741 short-term contract staff to help prepare for next year’s commune elections will begin on Wednesday, according to the National Election Committee’s spokesman. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/election-staffing-set-kick-wednesday
NEC pledges to allow vetting of voter lists
National Election Committee (NEC) spokesman Hang Puthea yesterday promised the body would release electoral lists for vetting after it finished registering voters, but conceded the process faced a tight deadline. ...
Bun Sengkong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nec-pledges-allow-vetting-voter-lists
NEC sets voter registration dates
After multiple delays, the National Election Committee yesterday released its schedule for voter registration, giving itself three months to register the close to 9.6 million eligible voters across the country. ...
Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nec-sets-voter-registration-dates
NGO files complaint against NEC
An NGO has filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Unit against senior National Election Committee members for “colluding to commit corruption inside an independent institution”, relating to a transfer of the body’s employees from independent contractors to government officials. ...
Lay Samean
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngo-files-complaint-against-nec
Commune elections set for June 4 next year
Next year’s commune council elections will be held on June 4, according to a decision signed on Tuesday by Prime Minister Hun Sen, marking the first nationwide ballot since the 2013 election that led to the reform of the National Election Committee (NEC). ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/second2/commune-elections-set-for-june-4-next-year-112987/
NEC seeks regular meetings to dispel bias suspicions
Cambodia’s election body has called for regular meetings with political parties, journalists and civil society organisations (CSOs) in a bid to stave off suspicions of bias as two of its non-CPP aligned officials face prosecution. ...
Bun Sengkong and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nec-seeks-regular-meetings-dispel-bias-suspicions
Registration of voters bumped back again
National Election Committee spokesman Hang Puthea yesterday maintained that the country remains on track to hold commune elections in June 2017 despite the body again postponing the registration of voters in a new digital system because necessary equipment had not yet been acquired. ...
Bun Sengkong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/registration-voters-bumped-back-again
Still lessons to learn for Cambodians watching U.S. election campaign
The ongoing presidential election campaign in the United States may be one of the more unseemly the country has seen, but observers and politicians in Cambodia say their country still has a lot to learn from the American democratic process. ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/still-lessons-to-learn-for-cambodians-watching-us-election-campaign/3268463.html
NEC reforms must reach local level to be effective, analysts say
As the National Election Committee seeks to reform itself and the election process, election observers say it is failing at the provincial and local level. Critics say hundreds of NEC directors and deputies across the country could potentially fail to implement the policies of the ...
Pin Sisovann
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/nec-reforms-must-reach-local-level-to-be-effective-analysts-say/3209656.html
EU to provide 10 million euros for election reform, NEC still needs more
The European Union pledged €10 million in preparation of the upcoming 2017 and 2018 elections yesterday, which the National Election Committee (NEC) hopes to add to in a new budget they will be submitting to the government, according to NEC officials. ...
Chea Takihiro
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21238/eu-to-provide-10-million-euros-for-election-reform--nec-still-needs-more/
124 candidates vying for top posts in NEC
The National Election Committee (NEC) on Saturday wrapped up its 10-day call for applications for top administrative positions with 124 forms submitted, the agency said in a statement, with one secretary- general and four deputies set to be selected. ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/124-candidates-vying-for-top-posts-in-nec-104011/
Although interest high, NEC applications sow confusion
More than 100 people have expressed interest in taking positions with the National Election Committee (NEC) since applications were made available to the public five days ago, but complicated identity and background checks have prevented anyone from actually applying, the NEC’s spokesman said on Monday. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/although-interest-high-nec-applications-sow-confusion-103586/
NEC to accept secretary-general applications
The nearly year-old bipartisan National Election Committee (NEC) will later this week begin accepting applications for the position of secretary-general, its top administrative role, with the man currently in the job, Tep Nytha, saying on Sunday that he would be applying. ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nec-to-accept-secretary-general-applications-102903/
Pilot for new voter registration system identifies key problems
Halfway into a pilot project testing a computerized voter registration system, the National Election Committee (NEC) has identified a lack of electricity and Internet access in the countryside along with inaccurate voter documentation as its main challenges. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pilot-for-new-voter-registration-system-identifies-key-problems-99786/
Cash-strapped NEC seeks money
Despite a massive 300 percent increase in its budget next year to prepare for looming elections, the National Election Committee (NEC) says it has barely half the money it needs to do its job and is looking for overseas aid for resources to help. ...
Chea Takihiro
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/17295/cash-strapped-nec-seeks-money/
Hun Sen, Rainsy battle on overseas voters
Prime Minister Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy have clashed over the issue of Cambodians living overseas being able to vote in elections. ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/17214/hun-sen--rainsy-battle-on-overseas-voters/
Election body set to form new administration
A sub-decree regulating the internal functioning of the new National Election Committee was signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday, paving the way for the election body to select new administrative officials and begin organizing itself for elections scheduled for 2017 and 2018. ...
Aun Chhengpor
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/election-body-set-to-form-new-administration-91547/
Election commission proposes creation of new departments
The National Election Committee will submit draft sub-decrees to the government this week that would establish three new departments within the commission to manage public relations, voter lists and procurement. ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/election-commission-proposes-creation-of-new-departments-88892/
NEC: digital voter registry to reduce fraud
The new computerized registry of voters for the next election will catalog citizens’ real names, reduce fraud, and get rid of the double-name glitches that plagued the last election cycle, says NEC spokesman Hang Puthea. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13460/nec--digital-voter-registry-to-reduce-fraud/
Election registration experiment starts in September
Cambodia’s next elections for commune officials will take place in February 2017, Interior Minister Sar Kheng has confirmed. ...
Tin Sokhavuth
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13337/election-registration-experiment-starts-in-september/