A senior official from the National Election Committee said on Monday that the final official results from July 29’s national election would be announced as planned, despite a complaint filed by an opposition party which was retracted in less than 24 hours.
After issuing preliminary results on Saturday, the election body will publish the final results on Wednesday.
Preliminary numbers showed the Cambodian People’s Party (CYP) received 4,889,113 votes while Funcinpec followed with 374,510. The League for Democracy Party (LDP) was next with 309,364 votes while the Khmer Will Party (KWP) got 212,869.
Cambodian Youth Party (CYP) president Pich Sros filed a complaint to the NEC on Monday demanding a recount in 17 constituencies.
However, he withdrew the complaint that same afternoon, saying he was in too much of a rush while filing and didn’t have enough supporting evidence.
“There’s nothing strange. I filed a complaint in the morning in such a rush. And because I had not gathered enough evidence to support the complaint, I decided to revoke it. It’s not because we lost the will to pursue the complaint.
“We will bring some documents on the data issued by NEC on August 11, along with a video clip, and then file a fresh complaint,” he said.
Sros said he withdrew the complaint without pressure from the outside. He said he will gather supporting documents and send the complaint again before the deadline.
Down by 84 votes
NEC member and spokesman Hang Puthea told The Post on Monday that there wouldn’t be a delay in the announcement of the election results, and that no other major complaints have been filed.
While filing the complaint at NEC headquarters on Monday morning, Sros told reporters that his party was dissatisfied that its vote count had gone down by 84 in the preliminary results compared to the initial one.
“The CYP is dissatisfied because the votes represent the will of the people. We follow the will of the people even though those 84 votes would not win us a seat. It is because we respect the will of the people. We want to find out how the other 84 votes were lost,” he said.
“We don’t want to cause trouble. We want to find the truth,” he said in the morning shortly after submitting his complaint.
No complaints from GDP
Grassroots Democratic Party (GDP) secretary-general and spokesperson Sam Inn said his party had no plans to file a complaint.
“The GDP does not have plans to file complaints because we do not have evidence of irregularities. However, this does not mean that the GDP recognises the elections as free, fair and just,” he said.
Election expert Yoeurng Sotheara, said political parties have 72 hours to submit their complaints after the NEC releases preliminary results.
“The NEC needs to wait until the deadline as indicated by law. If on the deadline day, there are no complaints from any political parties or people, the NEC can declare its official results,” he said.
