Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged material support for election reform in Cambodia, a staffer for Prime Minister Hun Sen said upon the premier’s return from a Tokyo summit yesterday.

Arriving at Phnom Penh International Airport, Kao Kim Hourn, minister delegate attached to Hun Sen, told reporters that the promise came during bilateral talks between the two leaders on the sidelines of Japan’s summit with the “Mekong five” countries last week.

“Abe took into strong consideration the electoral reform in Cambodia, and stressed that Japan would assist successful reform – especially the voter list – by providing material assistance,” Hourn said yesterday.

Japan has already been helping the National Election Committee (NEC) digitise the country’s voter list, said NEC spokesman Hang Puthea.

“The NEC will continue to meet with a Japanese computer expert on the voter list, and are taking recommendations for developing voter registration; we have planned to preliminarily finalise the list on [Thursday],” Puthea said.

“We hope to have a new voter list by next year.”