The National Election Committee (NEC) warned that it plans to take legal action against those who have encouraged people to spoil the ballot in the upcoming election on July 23.
The NEC issued a statement on Tuesday stating that a recently passed amendment to electoral law allows it to fine people up to 20 million riels for instructing people to spoil their ballots, as well as ban them from running for election for five years, among other penalties.
The move comes after recent calls on social media by activists outside the country to spoil the ballot as a way to protest the disqualification of the opposition Candlelight Party from the election back in May.
The statement told voters not to follow ill-intentioned people who aimed to “destroy democracy” and said any person who instructs others to spoil the ballot “will be punished according to the law.”
NEC spokesperson Hang Puthea said that NEC is currently working to identify the groups who have attempted to destroy or affect the electoral process.
“The dissemination of [incorrect information] about the election and incitement is an activity that violates the law, even if those activities were made by groups inside or outside the country,” he said.
But civil society groups are concerned about the NEC’s interpretation of the newly passed Article 142 of the Law on the Election of National Assembly Members and its impact on voting rights.
“If we look at the law on election, it is not clearly stipulated that they can interpret [calls to spoil the ballot] to be considered as an offense,” said Am Sam Ath, operations director at rights group LICADHO. “We are concerned if there is no clear interpretation, it will affect the rights of voters.”
More than 20 civil society groups published a joint statement on June 26 critical of the hasty drafting of the election law amendments and its future impact on voter rights.
Thol Samnang, a Candlelight Party activist, was also recently arrested in Thailand related to his activism after recent anti-CPP social media posts.
11 Days Into the Election Campaign
The national election campaign period began 11 days ago and there has been no violence or irregularities reported to the NEC, according to NEC spokesperson Hang Puthea. The NEC is chaired by the ruling CPP central committee member Prach Chan.
Only the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) has had enough resources to hold mass election campaigns, including walking door to door and instructing voters on how to fill out the ballot by ticking the CPP’s rank number 18. Minor parties have distributed leaflets that are also available at their headquarters.
“There are no problems after several days of campaigning and we have done it smoothly,” said Cambodian Youth Party president Pich Sros.
Regarding the ruling CPP instructing people on how to tick on the ballot in every election, Sros said that his party does not have enough human resources to do this.
“They have taught their party’s members…and it has become a habit that we find difficult to speak out against,” he said.
Grassroot Democratic Party’s steering committee Sek Soka echoed Sros, saying his party has not had any problems or violence so far because his party is only carrying out a small campaign. But he took issue with the CPP’s ballot ticking instructions.
“For my personal opinion, they should not do this [instruct people on how to tick the ballot] because it has shown an image of unfairness for other political parties,” Sokha said.
He pointed out Cambodian citizens already know how to fill out the ballot as the country has held 11 national and local elections.
“We are not forcing citizens to [tick the ballot],” said CPP spokesperson Sok Eysan. “We have instructed our party members to vote for our own party, so it is not wrong.”
He said the CPP will gain majority support in the upcoming election because the party has had great achievements and developed the nation.
“It doesn’t violate the law to instruct voters correctly how to tick on the ballot, unless [they are using] threats or intimidation, that is wrong,” said Sam Kuntheamy, executive director at election watchdog NICFEC. “The decision on election day is up to them.”
He said the reason there have been no irregularities during the election campaign period is because only the CPP has the ability to hold mass campaigns.
Candlelight spokesperson Kimsour Phearith, could not be reached for comment.
