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.

Hang Puthea said yesterday that 591 of the vacancies will be filled by training staff, who will be tasked with preparing 7,000 voter registration workers, recruitment of whom is set to begin soon.

The lion’s share of the work, Puthea added, will involve training staff on the use of 2,500 computers, due to arrive on July 15 and paid for by the European Union and Japanese government as part of their electoral reform aid programs. They will also educate staffers about the legal procedures surrounding voter registration.

Nationwide registration will begin on September 1 and run until November 29, during which time officials will attempt to register Cambodia’s more than 9 million estimated eligible voters across 1,600 communes. A final registration list is scheduled to be released next February, just months ahead of the planned June 4 election date.

Once released, the lists will be audited by the Electoral Reform Alliance, a coalition of NGOs due to receive funding from the National Democratic Institute for the work.