The number of people registering to vote has dropped sharply in recent days, statistics show, with an election watchdog calling on the National Election Committee to step up its game.

In their effort to register Cambodia’s 9.6 million voters before the end of November, the NEC had aimed to enrol about 100,000 people per day, but as the three-month registration drive enters its last month, registrants have dwindled.

From Wednesday to Saturday, NEC offices stationed at communes around the country counted an average of just under 49,000 people per day.

With about 3 million voters still to register, director of election watchdog Comfrel Koul Panha urged the NEC to work with NGOs and political parties to ramp up efforts to inform people about the ongoing drive. “At the beginning, there was a lot of information, but by the middle of the campaign, information was reduced, so we need to disseminate more about voter registration,” he said.

NEC spokesman Hang Puthea was not available to discuss the downward trend, while NEC director of voter registration Top Rithy declined to comment.