The National Election Committee (NEC) is preparing to post a list of 154,767 names that will be removed from the voter rolls for 2020.

There are more than 260,000 newly registered voters and the number of eligible voters in the country has grown to more than 8.8 million people.

NEC spokesman Hang Puthea said the targeted will be removed from the official list on November 27 after a nationwide data verification.

“The purpose of this posting is for those who have already registered to verify their data and raise an objection if they are removed.

“If people find irregularities, they have the right to complain or object in writing to the voter registration group in the commune using form 1202. They can object if their name is lost or the NEC deleted the name incorrectly,” Puthea said.

NEC secretary-general Tep Nytha said the NEC has instructed commune councils to regularly list names of those to be purged from the voter list.

Nytha said names deleted from the first list were either deceased, moved out of the commune or are temporarily unauthorised to vote.

Khmer Will Party (KWP) deputy president Tol Prasath expressed concern over the removal of such a large number of citizens from the voter list. But he acknowledged that the NEC’s deletions are based on actual evidence and documents.

He said that when the first voter list is posted, his party officials will go to check and monitor to see if the NEC procedures are correct.

“I am worried when there’re so many people taken off the rolls but the NEC has clear evidence,” Prasath said.

Korn Savang, the survey and advocacy coordinator at the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel), said the delisting process was good, though there were still some procedures the NEC can fix.

“NEC should simplify procedures for agents, political parties and stakeholders to be able to check if it is acceptable to everyone,” he said.

The NEC began the 45-day voter registration and review process on September 1 and finished on October 12.