Tuesday, 24 March 2009

NEC to finalise election logistics

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chhay Channyda
Tuesday, 24 March 2009

THE National Election Committee said it will hold a meeting today to officially approve the order in which political parties are to be listed on ballots for upcoming council elections scheduled for May.

Also at the meeting, which the NEC said election monitors and political party representatives are welcome to attend, the committee will decide how many ballots to print in each province.

Four political parties have registered candidates: the Cambodian People's Party, the Sam Rainsy Party, the Norodom Ranariddh Party and Funcinpec.

Tep Nytha, the NEC's secretary general, told the Post Sunday that provincial election committees had already determined the order in which parties will be listed. Once these orderings are approved, he said, the NEC will begin printing ballots.

"Sequential numbering is one of the processes that adds fairness to the voting for each political party and leads to fewer complaints and dissatisfaction," he said.

Tep Nytha said the number of registered candidates varies widely from province to province. In Kampong Thom's Baray district, which Tep Nytha said was the most heavily contested district in the Kingdom, 146 candidates are registered. By contrast, 10 candidates are registered in both Mondulkiri and Rattanakiri provinces.

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