No Re-Vote Likely: Election Official

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
29 July 2008

Khmer audio aired 28 July 2008 (7.29 MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired 28 July 2008 (7.29 MB) - Listen (MP3)

The Cambodian People's Party apparent election sweep will not likely be contested by a second round of voting, despite calls from the opposition party and others that the election was tainted, an election official said Monday.

"There is not a possibility of having a re-vote unless you have particular evidence to prove irregularities," Heu Rong, head of the National Election Committee's operations department, said, as a guest on "Hello VOA."

Four main parties have alleged irregularities in nearly every province, including the omission of thousands of voter names from registries, intimidation and vote-rigging.

"Voters' names were deleted, and names were missing from the list," said Mar Sophal, monitoring chief for the Committee for Free and Fair Elections. "Right now we can't evaluate the election process. We'll wait and see if the NEC tackles the issues, such as complaints from parties, first."

Heu Rong said the NEC was investigating the allegations, but they had not received official complaints yet at the national level. Some complaints may still be held at the commune or provincial levels, he added.