NEC modernising council election processes
Kim Yutharo
FOLLOWING the “successful” 5th mandate commune council elections in 2022 and the 7th general election in 2023, the National Election Committee (NEC) has begun preparing lists of political parties and candidates for the upcoming 4th Capital-ProvincialTown-District Council Elections, scheduled for May 26.
NEC deputy secretary-general Ke Rith made the announcement during the February 5 closing ceremony of training courses for the political party representatives, NEC officials and observers who will be involved in the election.
An NEC press release explained its decision to modernise the electoral process by integrating new technology into the elections. Technology will be employed for three stages of the electoral process: the registration of political parties and candidates, electoral monitoring and summarisation, and case management and complaint reporting.
“The registration programme aims to prevent errors, including the submission of incorrect candidate names and data, underage candidacy, dual party affiliations, candidacy in multiple constituencies, or a failure to vote in the last general election,” said Rith.
He explained that parties can register either manually or online, to streamline the process.
Parties interested in using the new technology should send their requests to the NEC before February 27. Applications for political party registration for the council elections must be submitted to the Capital-Provincial Election Commissions between March 2 and 6.
Ly Sothearayuth, secretary-general of the Candlelight Party (CP), said on February 6 that the format used to register political parties and candidate lists for elections is not critical. He stressed the importance of each party receiving concise guidance from the NEC.
“The most important thing is that each political party must receive easyto-understand information, including unambiguous instructions from the NEC. Clear communication before the due date is important so that each party has enough time to understand and implement the guidelines,” he said.