The Ministry of Interior has instructed municipal and provincial authorities to support the National Election Committee (NEC) in the distribution of information cards to voters over the next month.

The ministry said the information cards will be distributed starting April 17 and running to May 16 in order to prepare voters for the commune council election set for June 5 this year.

The instructions came in a letter sent by ministry secretary of state Sak Setha to all municipal and provincial governors on March 22, after the NEC requested support from the ministry.

The letter said the cards have information for each voter such as their name, associated ID numbers, voting location and the date and time of the election as well as information on the documents they need to bring with them to vote on election day.

Setha told the governors to pass the instructions further down the line to the commune and village levels for them to assist with distributing the cards in their localities.

Ly Samreth, spokesman for the Siem Reap Provincial Administration, told The Post on March 24 that his administration was preparing to implement them.

He said the administration will work with the provincial election commission and commune election commission to distribute the cards.

“We will issue written instructions for district and commune authorities to bring the cards to voters to inform them about the election and the importance of voting,” he said.

NEC spokesman Som Sorida said everyone on the official voter list has had their data printed on the information cards for them to reference during the election.

In addition to showing information about themselves and where they can go to vote, the card also serves as a reminder for them to do so. He said it is very important that voters have these cards because they can just bring them to the election stations and officials will help them find their voter number on the list. This makes it possible to cast ballots very quickly.

“The NEC cooperates with the interior ministry to distribute these cards to voters because we do not have enough officials at the community level. We only have five or six commune election commission officials in each commune,” he told The Post.

Separately, the NEC held a meeting on March 24 in Kampong Cham province to address five complaints filed by voters against the Candlelight Party. The complaints said the candidates for the party have not abided by the rules and conditions set forth by the NEC in order to run in the upcoming commune council election.