NEC: Nearly 600,000 eligible voters register ahead of 2023 election
DURING the 50-day voter registration period this year, the National Election Committee (NEC) registered a total of 590,388 new voters, while 263,622 names were removed from the voter list.
NEC deputy secretary-general Som Sorida said that 61,698 people had corrected their data in the voter list, while 183,631 people had changed their commune of registration.
“As of December 8, the last day of registration and verification of the voter list, there were 9,716,078 people on the list, equivalent to 89.33 per cent of the population of 10.8 million aged 18 and over,” he said.
He said the registration and verification process went smoothly and was orderly, and the officials performed their duties in a professional manner.
“During this period, there were few complaints from people who came to register to vote,” he said.
NEC member and spokesman Hang Puthea said on December 8 that during the 50day period for registration at communes and districts, NEC officials at all level, especially the voter registration team, had properly complied with the laws, regulations and procedures to make this process run smoothly and orderly.
In order to estimate statistics for verification and registration, they base their numbers on the percentage of population growth and statistics from communes, in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Interior.
However, since Cambodia’s voter registration system is voluntary and choosing to abstain from voting is also people’s right, if someone does not register, that is also their right, but with encouragement from the NEC, most register, according to Sorida.
“Overall, the NEC has achieved better results with the 2022 voter registration than we did last year, which is nearly 600,000 people, almost 40,000 more people than last year. The remaining people have not yet registered to vote in some cases because some of them are working abroad,” he said.
Regarding the NEC’s challenges during voter registration, Puthea said the problems were similar to last year, such as natural disasters and Covid-19. Last year, voter registration officials contracted the coronavirus frequently and some areas were locked down due to Covid-19.
He added that this year they faced floods and raining as well as lacking officials with the required computer skilled at some communes or districts level because of their lack of resources to offer higher pay.
He said, however, that the NEC had two teachers in each district to help solve any commune problems.
Regarding the 2022 voter registration, some civil society organisation officials said the public announcements did not seem to be reaching all citizens, especially young people at voting age.
Soeung Sen Karuna, the senior investigations official of human rights group ADHOC, said on the last day of registration that some migrant workers in some provinces, especially in the border provinces, have not yet registered to vote and may not be able to vote in the next election, which the NEC has scheduled for Sunday, July 23, 2023.