|
|
Cambodia: At least 100,000 unable to vote in local election
Wed. April 11, 2007 06:40 am.- By Zainab Osman. -
(SomaliNet) Some 100,000 out of the 7,799, 371 registered voters couldn't cast votes in the April 1 local election due to absence of their names on the list and lack of identification cards, local media said on Wednesday.
"As I estimate, at least 100,000 could not vote in the commune councils election," Mar Sophal, monitoring coordinator with the Committee for Free and Fair Elections (Comfrel), was quoted by English newspaper the Cambodian Daily as saying.
He also conceded that it was difficult to calculate the precise number of registered votes who left the country's 14,428 polling stations without voting.
Meanwhile, Theary Seng, director of the Center for Social Development (CSD), said that only about 65 percent of those who registered went to the polls, reported daily newspaper the Khmer Mekong News.
More than 2.5 million registered voters failed to join the elections, reported another daily newspaper the Samleng Yuvechun Khmer. The CSD has attributed the low turnout to various irregularities regarding the elections.
Many registered voters failed to receive voter notices distributed by the National Election Committee; electoral officials at polling stations didn't understand the process and help voters verify their names; voter names and birthdays unmatched with those on the voter notices; and local officials, police, military police and commune chiefs and councilors used their positions to stand in front of polling stations, intimidating voters, the Khmer Mekong News quoted CSD as saying.
According to preliminary results, the ruling Cambodian People's Party won a landslide victory, receiving 3.1 million of the 5.1 million votes cast during the elections, followed by the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, the opposition Norodom Ranariddh Party and the co-ruling Funcinpec Party.
In the election, altogether 102,266 candidates from 12 political parties competed for 11,353 seats in 1,621 communes and sub-communes nationwide. Official results will be announced on April 24.--Xinhua
News Category: World
Latest Headlines
|
News 
