CCHR PRESS RELEASE – Phnom Penh, 7 August 2013
CCHR expresses concern regarding the NEC’s method of verifying election results
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”) is concerned about a lack of transparency in calculating the results of the National Assembly elections held on 28 July 2013. The National Election Committee (“NEC”) organized a rechecking of the election results from 22 provinces, beginning on 3 August 2013 at NEC headquarters within the Ministry of the Interior. However, the NEC failed to provide the original results forms from each polling station, and instead re-counted secondary figures that were collected in a printed excel sheet. There is no certainty that these figures rechecked by the NEC were the actual figures taken from each polling station.
The NEC invited external observers to monitor the process of rechecking the results; in attendance were representatives from the Cambodian People’s Party, non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations. At the NEC’s offices eight small groups were set up to check the results from one province at a time. Each group comprised of several NEC officials and independent observers. To check results, one NEC official read the number of votes for each party from each commune/sangkat, recorded on the printed excel spreadsheets, while other NEC officials and the independent observers verified that the figures added up to the totals on these spreadsheets. This procedure itself was transparent but because none of the actual 1102 forms, on which results would have been recorded directly after each polling station was closed, were made available to check against the figures in the completed excel spreadsheets, it was not possible to verify the legitimacy of figures provided by the NEC. The NEC should delay any announcement of official election results until the numbers of votes have been properly verified and until independent investigations into complaints of irregularities have been carried out.
CCHR President Ou Virak comments:
“CCHR welcomes the NEC’s willingness to invite independent observers to the rechecking of election results. However, the absence of the actual 1102 forms for monitors to check against figures provided to them by the NEC has ultimately undermined the whole process. The NEC should make the original 1102 forms available to neutral observers in order to instil confidence in the legitimacy of the election results, rather than fueling suspicions about election fraud. If the verification of results cannot be carried out transparently then it is not only a waste of time but also bolsters claims that the NEC is not an independent institution and that the election results cannot be trusted.”
For more information, please contact Ou Virak via telephone at +855 (0) 1240 4051 or e-mail at ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org or CCHR Consultant Orla Kelly via telephone at +855 (0) 6772 7025 or e-mail at orla.kelly@cchrcambodia.org.
Please find attached the press release in PDF format both in English and in Khmer.
Kind regards,
CCHR 
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