The National Election Committee has so far approved more than 30,000 observers from NGOs for the June 4 commune elections and confirmed that more than 100,000 observers affiliated with political parties will also monitor voting.

With just a few weeks left for observers to apply for clearance, an NEC statement released at a meeting about election security yesterday shows that the institution accepted 30,640 national observers from nine organisations so far.

The NEC also approved 41 international observers, most of whom come from the EU and the Chinese Embassy.

The application deadlines for national and international observers are on May 24 and May 31, respectively. The dozen political parties on the ballot will provide 105,076 observers in total, with the ruling CPP and opposition CNRP posting 44,614 and 43,596 observers, respectively.

NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha said the commission is waiting for indelible ink, which will be used on election day to indicate who has already voted, to arrive from India. In the 2013 national elections, a Comfrel report found that the ink used could be cleaned off a few hours after voting.