The National Election Committee (NEC) has prepared material and equipment for the commune council elections to be transported to all polling stations in the country other than those in Phnom Penh and neighbouring Kandal province.
“All the materials will be delivered to all polling stations no later than 36 hours before election day,” NEC spokesman Som Sorida told The Post on May 30. “The NEC has carried out this work smoothly according to our transportation programme, and the storage is good – we have a warehouse to ensure both quality and safety and security.”
According to Sorida, in the event of negligence with regard to the management of election equipment and material, election staff will be subject to penalties set out in the NEC’s internal regulations.
He said the material for the polling stations contained official ballots, indelible ballot ink and paper, confidential stamp and ballot box for the provincial election commissions to certify and present to commune election commissions and polling stations.
Kin Chean, chairman of the Mondulkiri Provincial Election Commission, said the commission received the election materials on the night of May 29 and kept them in a warehouse guarded by the provincial police force.
He added that the provincial commission will begin transporting the material under armed guard to remote communes from May 31. Upon arrival at the commune election commission office, a security guard will be on duty until the day it is transported to the polling station.
Chean highlighted that the transportation of election materials had been met with some difficulty. The current transportation infrastructure has only considered the province-to-district movement, he noted, but the large province’s scattered population means many polling stations in communes are located a large distance from the next one and have been left scrambling for alternative routes of election material delivery.
“I have five offices that are far and difficult to reach,” he said. Four newly established offices were located in Prey Ki, next to Stung Treng province, for which there is no direct road from Mondulkiri, while another office was on the border of Kratie province and could only be reached on foot. “If it rains, it is even more difficult because there is mud and crossings,” he noted.
Sok Hing, director of the Secretariat of the Battambang Provincial Election Commission, told The Post that the province received material and equipment on the night of May 29, with a full and complete inspection of all material for distribution to the 103 communes to be conducted before delivery to the polling stations.
Hing noted that there have also been some difficulties in transporting the material to communes due to safety and security, for which the commission requested two provincial commissioners to accompany the vehicle to the commune. “The provincial commission has requested two forces … to guard [the material] from the date of receipt until all of them are sent out to the communes according to their different programmes and schedules,” he said.
When ballots and essential materials arrive at the commune election commission, it must cooperate with the district police chief and the commune chief to provide security until the ballots and materials are delivered to the polling station.
He highlighted another major problem being that two communes in Ek Phnom district were situated at the Tonle Sap Lake, parts of which have seen an overgrowth of water hyacinth, which has made it challenging for boats – including those that will deliver election material – to navigate and push through.
Yong Kim Eng, director of the People’s Centre for Development and Peace, said it has always been difficult for the election commission to travel to remote areas due to inadequate infrastructure.
However, he said election commissions at all levels must ensure that the election process is smooth, all citizens have the right to vote, and that there is no lack of ballots or election material. Security and order must be ensured before and during the election, he said.
“The election is a top priority, and the NEC must ensure that the ballots arrive on time, regardless of the means used … even if it might necessitate helicopters. If there is a delay, it will make the organisation of the election extremely challenging,” he said.