Registration row

The National Election Committee decided yesterday to keep 39 individuals on the 2011 voter registration list despite scrutiny from Sam Rainsy Party members, who accused them of being illegal immigrants.

SRP plaintiff Ruos Sour requested that 58 individuals from Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district be removed from the list after he alleged they were Vietnamese and had no proof of Cambodian citizenship. However, it later emerged that only 39 individuals remained on the list, because four had died and 15 had moved from the area.

“They came to live in Cambodia illegally. We know they are Vietnamese by their spoken language and names. Why do they have the right to vote?” the plaintiff said.

Chan Thon, commune chief of Kampong Luong in Ponhea Leu district, acknowledged the 58 people lacked legitimate identification, but said they had been registered to vote since 1993 and had lived in the area since 1979.

“They have lived there before I began working in the commune in 2007, and their names have been on the voters list since 1993,” the commune chief said.