In the first six days of voter list verification and registration that commenced on October 12, the National Election Committee (NEC) had registered 68,105 new voters while the names of 39,749 individuals will be deleted from the electoral list.
In a press release on October 18, NEC said 16,481 people had corrected their names while 19,865 had relocated to a different commune.
The 2021 voter list verification and registration will run through November 30, including Saturdays and Sundays.
NEC spokesman Som Sorida told The Post on October 18 that the number of new registrations this year in 1,296 communes was small. But compared to last year, the number was similar. In 2020, voter registration was scheduled for 20 days, but this year the period is 50 days. So, the NEC could register at least 600,000 to 700,000 new voters. NEC plans to register more than 1.6 million new voters across the country.
He added that NEC has had more than 10,000 registrations per day. The number was acceptable as the Covid-19 pandemic and heavy rains have inhibited people’s movement.
“NEC will prepare to register all voters as prescribed by law. Although voter registration is an individual’s right, NEC urges citizens to register so they will be eligible to vote in the future,” he said.
Korn Savang, an observer for the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) said NEC’s voter list verification and registration in communes nationwide proceeded smoothly, though there were some problems with the weather and Covid-19 that prevented people from registering in large numbers.
But he was of the view that the planned registration of more than 1.6 million new voters would be difficult to achieve because only about 10,000 people a day had registered. NEC would need to register at least 30,000 new voters a day to achieve its target.
NEC called on all citizens to check their names on the final electoral list, and if there are any errors in the information, a request can be made for corrections. In addition, those who have just turned 18 – or born before or on June 6, 2004 – and those who have never registered to vote to do so before the deadline.
