The National Election Committee (NEC) announced that 15 of the 18 political parties which are registered for the upcoming June national elections have approved the size and formats of their party names and logos as they will be displayed on the ballot papers. The remaining three parties have requested minor adjustments.
According to a May 30 NEC press release, representatives of each party were invited to verify the size of the logo, as well as the full and abbreviated forms of the party name.
“Representatives of 15 political parties have signed off on the images, while three have some minor points they would like to address,” said the release.
The three parties that have requested corrections are the People Purpose Party, FUNCINPEC and the Ekpheap Cheatkhmer Party.
Top Rithy, director-general of the NEC’s General Department of Technical and Legal Services, said it was important that each party verify the images that would be printed on the 7th mandate ballots.
“The format, size, logo and name of each political party need to be clarified and matched with what was submitted to the NEC when the party registered,” he explained.
Korn Savang, monitoring and advocacy coordinator of NGO Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL), acknowledged that the verification was a standard part of the election process.
“Although we did not take part in the review, I understand that the size of the logo and the full and abbreviated forms of each party’s name is very important to the party. They will want to make themselves as easily recognisable as they can to potential voters once they enter the polling stations,” he said.
The NEC has recognised 18 of the 20 political parties which applied for party and candidate registration for the July 23 election.
The applications of the Candlelight Party and the Khmer National Unity Party were dismissed, as they failed to meet the legal documentation requirements for registration.
