Voter registration errors, which occur because citizens do not inform commune clerks of migration, incarceration or deaths of family members, had led to 130,000 incorrect listings that the National Election Committee planned to cancel, NEC officials said on Friday.

The officials are appealing to government institutions to carefully examine voter registration lists for errors and to increase citizens’ knowledge of election mechanisms in the lead-up to the 2013 parliamentary elections.

“All ministries, departments and relevant institutions must take a highly collaborative approach to ensure the triumph of this affair,” NEC president Im Sousdey said.

The NEC was calling on the ministries of interior, culture and arts, education and cults and religion to inform officials, celebrities, monks and students about registration procedures for the September 1 to October 12 registration period, he said.

Election watchdog representatives confirmed the need to correct registration lists but noted that until now, the NEC had failed to purge repetitions and dead voters from the lists.

Koul Panha, executive director of election monitor Comfrel, said the registration system was “not accountable for inaccuracy” and commune councils and the NEC tended to blame each other for mistakes.

250 Comfrel representatives will monitor voter registration at a sampling of the 1633 registration locations, Panha said, but he forecasts that “not too much [will] improve,” because the NEC has “no political commitment” to change.

Sousdey estimated that the number of eligible voters in the next July’s parliamentary election would exceed nine million.

To contact the reporter on this story: Khouth Sophak Chakrya at [email protected]

With assistance from Justine Drennan