NEC Dismisses Complaints of Voter Fraud
The opposition party on Wednesday criticized as partial and political the National Election Committee's denial of its voter fraud compl
The opposition party on Thursday criticized as partial andpolitical the National Election Committee's denial of its voter fraudcomplaints, as the Cambodian People's Party and Funcinpec decided on a reduced number of positions in the new government. The NEC on Tuesday struck down the Sam Rainsy Partycomplaints of widespread voter irregularities. The NEC said Tuesday not enough evidence had been presentedto warrant a public hearing over the alleged irregularities. The Sam Rainsy Party said Wednesday it would appeal to theConstitutional Council. The complaints included allegations that local officials haddistributed an identification form, No. 1018, in lieu of photo identification,allowing for ineligible voting. "We are very disappointed for the denial by the NEC,and call the denial not in comformity with the law, because we have fullwitnesses and documents in our complaint," said Kong Sam On, SRP lawyer incharge of election complaints. "We have evidence enough about theirregularities, including more than 3,000 witnesses who have real addresses andform No. 1018 illegally issued by commune officials." NEC Secretary-General Tep Nitha defended the decision, as"following the law and NEC procedure." As the Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties maintained a denialof the election results Wednesday, Funcinpec prepared to join the governmentwith less posts than in the past. CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Thursday Funcinpecmembers will hold positions in government such as deputy prime minister, seniorminister, or secretary of state, but there would be no Funcinpec ministryheads. The CPP will lead all of the ministries, he said. "We are preparing the list for government posts," Funcinpec Secretary-General Nhiek Bunchhay said Thursday. "There are at least 62 people: one for deputy prime minister, four for senior minister from former ministers...and the remaining are secretary of state and undersecretary of state." "This is our pride, to get some government posts, if we get two seats in the Assembly. All of these positions are concessions and gifts from the CPP, because we used to work together," he said. "If we didn't get the government posts, we would have been disappointed, because we got a bad result from the election."