The National Election Committee headquarters in Tonle Basac commune of the capital’s Chamkarmon district in January. Heng Chivoan
The National Election Committee (NEC) has selected 175 members of the municipal and provincial electoral commissions to serve in the upcoming commune council elections.
According to a press release issued by the NEC on January 30, the 175 candidates all passed an exam which tested their knowledge of electoral systems.
According to the NEC, the newly appointed positions include the chairperson and deputy chairperson of the commissions, members in charge of administration and members in charge of finances. Commission members who will be responsible for operations, legal services, education and security were also chosen.
The NEC stated that the recruited candidates would begin their duties on February 1, and would serve the election council until June 30.
NEC spokesman Hang Puthea told The Post that the election process is a major nationwide operation and requires additional staff to ensure it runs smoothly.
“This recruitment was carried out in accordance with NEC rules and regulations. Because there are 1652 polling stations nationwide for the commune council elections, we needed to set up the commissions and select more members to carry out the work,” he said.
Puthea said that after forming the municipal and provincial commissions, the NEC would establish commune election sub-commissions, then set up polling stations and counting committees.
These commissions were set up only to prepare and carry out the election. Once the elections finished, these commissions would automatically dissolve, he added.
Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections (NICFEC) executive director Sam Kuntheamy said he expected the members to fulfil any roles related to the elections in a transparent manner.
“The selection of those members is good and hopefully they work transparently. We will see,” he said.
According to the NEC, during this recruitment, some NEC officials who work at the municipal-provincial election secretariat passed the exam as chairperson or deputy chairperson, which meant some positions in the secretariat were freed.
The 5th mandate commune council election 2022 is scheduled for June 5.
