National Election Committee (NEC) officials hold a meeting on November 15 to update stakeholders on the NEC's work progress recently. Heng Chivoan
Over the 26-day period from October 20 to November 14, a total of 375,406 people registered to vote, raising the provisional figure for the overall number to 9,519,603, according to National Election Committee (NEC) official Duch Son.
At a meeting to update stakeholders on the NEC's work progress recently, Son noted that in the process of reviewing voter list and registration in the communes over the period, their initial numbers had a total of 164,241 names removed from the list along with 33,669 people correcting their data and 102,757 moving to a new commune.
“The total number of names provisionally included in the 2022 voter list currently stands at 9,519,603 –5,066,641 of them women – which equals 87.52 per cent of the estimated total potential electorate,” he said.
Son said that there were 7,479 registered observers to the process from six parties this year: the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), Candlelight, FUNCINPEC, Khmer National United, Cambodian Youth and Democratic Forces.
In addition to those observers, the NEC also officially recognized a total of 3,155 observers from civil society and non-governmental organisations.
According to Son, the process of checking the voter list and registering to vote ran into some challenges this year in certain areas, such as flooding, power and internet outages, and outdated equipment in some communes.
“Despite the climate and technical challenges, the 2022 voter list and voter registration process went smoothly due to the close cooperation between the National Disaster Management Committee and the NEC technicians to solve various problems in a timely manner,” he said.
Kang Savang, Coordinating Survey and Advocacy Coordinator for the NGO Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL), said that based on the NEC figures, the number of new registration was tracking with expectations and the process was carried out so far without any notable controversy.
“If you look at the figures, they are likely to be completed as planned and scheduled, with at least 90 per cent achieved,” he said.
He pointed out that the numbers might be even higher if the online portal and app created by the NEC for checking names on the voter list was more widely publicised because it eliminates the barrier of having to travel to the commune hall.
