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Report cites election day voter fraud

Voter rolls at several polling stations appear to have been “intentionally manipulated” in advance of the election to allow large groups of individuals to cast fraudulent ballots in communes where they were ineligible, according to a report released Saturday by rights group Licadho.

One of the incidents cited describes hundreds of university students being transported from Phnom Penh to Kandal’s Lvea Em district to vote, allegedly under the instruction of their professors, as one example of systematic voter fraud.

Another observed incident in hotly contested Kandal involved more than 100 workers from a rock quarry in Kampong Speu who were brought to a newly created polling station in Sa’ang district to vote despite not having residence there, Licadho says.

The quarry is allegedly owned by a ruling party official from Sa’ang Phnom commune.

According to the report, more than 30 per cent of names on the voter list at the new Sa’ang polling station were duplicates, compared with a nationwide rate of two per cent.

“We were expecting significant issues with the voter rolls, especially in light of earlier reports of ghost voters, drastic over-registrations and the like, but the indications of vote rigging we saw went beyond that,” Licadho director Naly Pilorge said in a statement.

“The observations detailed in this report unequivocally demonstrate the need for further in-depth investigations and additional procedures before the vote results can be finalised.”

Tep Nytha, secretary-general at the National Election Committee, said the NEC had received the report but that, whether it had evidence of malfeasance or not, “the NEC will not investigate”.

“It is their right to say what they see. The NEC receives those reports to look into which points could be useful to make changes for the next election, so we accept them. For points that we can’t accept, we just archive them,” he said.

Koul Panha, director of election watchdog Comfrel, said Licadho’s findings were “very consistent” with that of other civil society groups.

He stopped short, however, of saying such premeditated vote-rigging was widespread.

“It proves that it happened in some communes [where] there were problems of intentional manipulation, but we want to do further investigation to know the scale of the problem.”

The report also cites military units being trucked in from their bases in Oddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear provinces to vote en masse in newly created polling stations in Siem Reap’s Varin district.

Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yeap said yesterday that the transportation of voters to polling stations where they are registered is fully legal.

“I just want to inform [people] that wherever you vote, you must have [identification] for elections that the NEC will allow you to vote with, and wherever you find your name, you have the right to vote there,” he said.

“For example, if a man works as a construction worker and has no time to go back to his homeland, he might register his name in the area where he works so he can vote.”

According to the Election Law, a Cambodian citizen must “have a residence” in the commune where they are going to vote.

Sin Khandy, the rector of Chenla University – the institution accused of bringing Phnom Penh students to vote in Kandal province – could not be reached for comment.

Khandy is an undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Environment, and the university, as noted by Licadho, has previously posted photos of students taking part in a protest against deputy CNRP leader Kem Sokha on its official Facebook page.

Cambodia National Rescue Party spokesman Yim Sovann welcomed the report yesterday. “[The report] reflects the reality and reflects the problems that we encountered during the election. It also adds to [our claim] that we should find justice for the people,” he said.

The report cites an election day conflict that erupted between CNRP and CPP observers in Prey Veng’s Reathor commune after opposition supporters blocked more than 400 individuals “who could not speak Khmer and appeared to be of Vietnamese ethnicity” from voting.

Although the number of temporary Identification Certificate for Election (ICE) forms issued in the commune was found to be more than 30 per cent, Licadho still calls for an investigation into the “potentially improper disenfranchisement of eligible voters based on ethnic discrimination”.

“We advise our supporters and our members not to do anything against the law and not to create violence.… We must not discriminate against anybody if they live in Cambodia legally and they have the right to vote,” Sovann said.

CNRP Mr. Sam Rainsy Conference Press 26/08/2013

CNRP Says Rally’s Size Could Exceed Government’s Demands

With a major opposition rally planned for this afternoon in Phnom Penh, City Hall and Ministry of Interior officials were at odds with CNRP leaders on Sunday over how many people would be allowed to attend the event.

Though the Interior Ministry has said only 6,000 people will be allowed into Freedom Park, the opposition said it could not guarantee how many people would attend the event to listen to CNRP leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha.

CNRP president Sam Rainsy meets supporters in Siem Reap on Sunday. (George Nickels)

“It is impossible to follow what the Ministry of Interior says,” CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said Sunday. “But we can keep our word that there will be no demonstrations tomorrow and we can keep our word on the time by ending the rally by 6 [p.m.] or 6:30 [p.m.]”

“It is difficult to predict how many people will join. Unlike a communist regime, where they send a letter of invitation and force people to come, we are democrats and in free society. We cannot tell you how many people will come to a rally,” he added.

However, City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said Sunday that the CNRP had agreed to demands to limit the crowd size, though he did not know how they would be enforced.

“We requested that [the CNRP] have only 5,000 people for the rally, and they agreed and said they will limit the number of their supporters. I don’t know anything else,” Mr. Dimanche said.

Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, who announced on Friday that the CNRP’s rally must be kept to less than 6,000 people, said Sunday, when asked how authorities would control crowd size, that the line of questioning was ill-intentioned.

“Your question doesn’t have good intentions. Do you want to see a crackdown or what?” he said.

Over the weekend, CNRP president Sam Rainsy and vice president Kem Sokha toured the country holding rallies that have drawn sizeable crowds in Kandal, Kompong Cham and Siem Reap provinces.

In videos posted to their Facebook accounts, their main message has been one of appreciation for voters who supported them in the July 28 election, which they claim to have won despite contradictory results from the National Election Committee showing a CPP victory.

The last time that the opposition leaders addressed a crowd in Phnom Penh was on August 6, when about 5,000 people showed up to attend a rally. However, as opposed to today’s rally, which has been promoted over the radio and on Facebook for the past week, that rally received little hype.

Freedom Park, where Mr. Rainsy and Mr. Sokha are set to arrive at 4 p.m. today, was quiet and desolated Sunday, save a few groups of car salesman sitting in the shade of trees with their vehicles parked along the surrounding streets.

One of the salesmen, Keo Sothy, 38, said that he did not expect today’s rally to get out of hand as the leaders were simply testing their supporters’ mood before deciding how to move forward as they try to break the political impasse with the ruling CPP.

“They are coming here to test…the feelings of their supporters. I don’t believe that there will be any sort of violence because our politicians and people now have more knowledge about how to solve problems peacefully,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Colin Meyn)

Source: The Cambodia Daily

Our victory is because of your heroism

Prime Minister-elect Sam Rainsy: Our victory is because of your heroism. And this heroism will rescue our nation in this year.

លទ្ធផល នៃជ័យជំនះ របស់យើងនេះ បានកើតឡើង ដោយវីរភាព របស់ បងប្អូន កូនក្មួយ ទាំងអស់។  ដូច្នេះ វីរភាព នេះហើយ នឹងត្រូវ សង្រ្គោះជាតិយើង ក្នុងឆ្នាំ ២០១៣នេះ។

(វីដេអូនេះ នៅវត្ត ស្លែង ក្នុងឃុំ ជីក្រែង, ស្រុក ជីក្រែង, ខេត្តសៀមរាប)

Mr. Sam Rainsy Victory Over Hun Sen

We need to we fight for the truth. Cambodians need CNRP, need Sam Rainsy. 

We love Sam Rainsy

 Cambodian Electoral fraud 2013. Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha appeals all Cambodian communities around the world to join Mass Rally - call for US/UN's help to find justice and fair election in Cambodia, and avoid bloodshed in Cambodia again. Now, the current government is pouring tanks, machine guns into the main city, Phnom Penh.

Sam Rainsy's television interview with ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) 22 August 2013.

Mr. Sam Rainsy Speech at Montreal, CNRP Cambodia Election 2013

Mr. Sam Rainsy Amasses Support Ahead of Monday’s Rally

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Friday visited vendors in Phnom Penh’s Olympic and Russian markets and appealed to voters disgruntled by preliminary election results awarding a victory to the CPP to join a planned opposition rally at Freedom Park on Monday.

As he toured both markets, Mr. Rainsy embraced his supporters as the animated crowds offered him gifts of flowers and jockeyed to take photographs and videos of the opposition leader.

Opposition party president Sam Rainsy visits shoppers and vendors at Phnom Penh’s Olympic Market on Friday in an attempt to generate support ahead of a large CNRP rally scheduled for Monday at Freedom Park. (Siv Channa)

“I am very happy and excited to meet with the vendors today because they have a special relationship with me—we are like siblings,” said Mr. Rainsy, who walked around the crowded markets unencumbered by any po­lice or security guards.

Speaking to reporters at Rus­sian Market, the second of the two markets he visited during the course of the morning, Mr. Rainsy reiterated his party’s stance that CNRP lawmakers will not sit in the National Assembly until a solution to the impasse over allegations of irregularities during the July 28 national election is reached.

“When we have justice for the people and earn their trust by not allowing [the CPP] to defraud voters and have an election victory that people accept—at that time we will join the meeting of the Na­tional Assembly,” he said.

Mr. Rainsy also told vendors that he hoped they would support his party’s attempts to bring transparency to the election by joining a rally at Freedom Park in Phnom Penh on Monday, though he continued to underline that the event should not be considered a demonstration against the election results, but rather an opportunity to inform supporters of the country’s current political situation.

“I hope that a lot of people will join in the gathering—but this is a rally, not a demonstration,” he said.

With the CNRP expecting at least 10,000 people to turn out for the rally, authorities have been engaged in a counter-campaign to discourage people from taking part, with a visible security buildup and ominous rhetoric seeking to frighten supporters and keep them from participating.

Authorities even circulated petitions at Phnom Penh markets asking people to support preliminary results showing a win for the CPP and promising not to join any demonstration called by the opposition.

Vendors, motorcycle taxi and cyclo drivers around O’Russei Market reported that market staff had gone around Monday intimidating people into giving their thumbprint, while NGOs said that several other communes around the city also complained of feeling pressured into endorsing similar petitions.

But on Friday, the vendors at Olympic and Russian markets expressed optimism that Mr. Rainsy and his party could help bring an end to the current political stalemate.

“I support Mr. Rainsy and he comes to the market to visit us,” said a 56-year-old market vendor, who gave her name only as Ms. Long for fear of reprisals.

“People believe that the Cambodia National Rescue Party had an election victory, but we don’t know why it was changed like this,” she added.

A 28-year-old pork vendor at Russian Market, who declined to give his name, said that he hoped Mr. Rainsy could become prime minister because he would bring more prosperity to his business.

“I think that he is a good leader for Cambodia and I hope that he will help our vendors to sell more and more goods,” he said.

CNRP officials met on Friday with Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong to discuss final security arrangements for Monday’s rally, which is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

After the meeting Mr. Socheat­vong said he had passed on the opposition party’s requests to the Interior Ministry with the stipulation that the rally finish by 6 p.m.

Interior Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak said that he had received the request and had added some further rules ahead of the rally.

“We agree on three points: The gathering has to finish at 6 p.m., we will only allow 6,000 people to join and people from the provinces are not allowed to join in,” he said.

“We don’t allow them to march down the roads and the CNRP must have their own security guards to keep the gathering in place and cooperate with our forces outside,” Lt. Gen. Sopheak said, declining to say what measures would be taken if more than 6,000 people turn up to Monday’s rally.

CNRP lawmaker Mu Sochua said it would be difficult to moderate the number of people coming to the rally.

“If people come, people come. How do you stop them? All I know is there will be a lot of people,” she said.

Military police spokesman Brigadier General Kheng Tito said this week that any attempt to disturb security at the rally would not be tolerated and security forces were fully equipped to quash any violence.

Source: The Cambodia Daily.