The National Election Committee plans to hold a two-day meeting in Preah Sihanouk province to review the June 4 commune elections, with members of the election monitoring coalition the “Situation Room” saying yesterday they plan to table recommendations to improve certain electoral procedures.
The meeting will be held starting Sunday in Sihanoukville to evaluate the progress the NEC has made on reforming electoral procedures, according to NEC spokesman Hang Puthea, who said the aim would be to ensure “smooth elections in 2018”.
“There will be team discussion, and from this team discussion NEC will receive recommendations,” Puthea said, adding that representatives of the government, major political parties and civil society would be present.
“NEC will take those recommendations to consider for the next election what is acceptable for all stakeholders.”
Puthea declined to comment on specific discussion topics but said a draft report on the elections would be discussed. After the elections, the Situation Room came under fire from Prime Minister Hun Sen for classifying the electoral process as not “fully free and fair”.
The Interior Ministry accused two monitors in the group – Nicfec and Comfrel – of not being politically neutral in their evaluation, but both groups yesterday said they will attend the meeting and provide suggestions.
“The Situation Room had 15 points of recommendation, and we will raise the main ones,” Nicfec head Sam Kuntheamy said, adding that a priority would be enfranchising Cambodia’s more than 1 million migrant workers.
