Thursday, 4 September 2008

Election Results Announced by the NEC Are Absolutely Not Accepted by the Opposition Parties

Posted on 4 September 2008
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 576

“Mr. Sam Rainsy, the president of the Sam Rainsy Party [SRP], said publicly on the Ponleu Ploeng Tien [Light of Candle – the logo of the SRP] program [on the Sambok Khmum Radio of Mr. Mam Sonando], ‘Today, we would like to announce again that the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party do not recognize the election results as publicly announced by the National Election Committee – NEC – on 2 September 2008.’

“Mr. Sam Rainsy added, ‘We have received more evidence and more witnesses, which show that the election results are based on many fraudulent votes, different from previous elections, because the names of many citizens were removed [from the voter lists]; when they wanted to vote they could not vote, as their names were deleted and stolen, in an attempt to prevent them from voting. This is the fist problem.’

“The well-known opposition party leader continued, ‘The second problem is that Forms 1018 were issued illegally, because many Form 1018 documents were fraudulent and were provided to those who were ineligible to vote, such as the Vietnamese, underage children, and those who did not have their names in the voters lists at districts and at many poling stations; they provided fraudulent names for such people, to vote for the Cambodian People’s Party.’

“Therefore, out of the tens of thousands of votes claimed to have been received by the Cambodian People’s Party, at least 500,000 votes were from ‘unreal’ votes which are called ghost votes, using ghost names to vote. Moreover, at least more than one million citizens’ names had been deleted from the voters lists, stolen, and the people had been prevented to vote.

“These are the reasons why the votes of the opposition parties declined, since those who wanted to vote for the opposition parties could not vote. On the contrary, those who did not have names to vote were helped by getting Forms 1018 illegally to vote.

“Mr. Sam Rainsy emphasized, ‘The election results were turned around and do not reflect fairness at all, they present the citizens’ will entirely distorted, and therefore we would like to announce again the position of the SRP and of the Human Rights Party to be still against the bad activities of the Cambodian People’s Party, implemented through the NEC and through the Constitutional Council, that serve the Cambodian People’s Party.’

“He went on to say, ‘After this, I have the further information that I, Sam Rainsy, will travel to protest in front of the international community on this Wednesday. I will go to Europe, to Paris and Brussels, and to America, to New York and Washington, in order to announce our complaints about the stealing of votes. Also, I have much evidence, as I have mentioned earlier, and I have revealed this evidence on a website [not identified here] and by other means on the Internet; we use modern technology to let the world see: if anyone wants to see, they can see.’

“The evidence shows that the elections in Cambodia were not held correctly, because we have received thumbprints of tens of thousands of citizens who had expressed their dissatisfaction with the NEC that had deleted their names.

“Mr. Sam Rainsy continued that tens of thousands of citizens had made motions with thumbprints, and the numbers are increasing further day-by-day. Not only the Sam Rainsy Party, but also the Human Rights Party is conducting a campaign to collect thumbprints to show the international community that the Cambodian People’s Party, through the NEC as a tools, had deleted many citizens’ names who were eligible to vote. Those thumbprints are published on our website where people from any country can see.’

“In the meantime, Mr. Sam Rainsy asked, ‘If anyone has evidence of fraud using Form 1018, please bring them to me directly at the headquarters of the Sam Rainsy Party. Also, I would like to remind that as for those who had came from near and far places, I would like to express gratitude from all my heart, and for those who bring one sheet of paper of a fraudulent Form 1018, we will present an award of US$50 to them, corresponding to Riel 200,000.’…
“Obviously, even a working group official of the Cambodian People’s Party in Kompong Cham said publicly, in a the Ponleu Ploeng Tien program, that the elections of 27 July 2008 had many irregularities, such as intimidations, human rights abuses, and fraud using the Form 1018, creating ghost names.

“Regarding the fraudulently used Form 1018, the official continued to say that there were many such cases – village and commune chiefs met three or four days ahead of the elections to plan for the creations of Form 1018 ghost names, and other cases.

“The official of the Cambodian People’s Party said, ‘A special case was that on 17 July 2008, Mr. Ouk Bunchhoeun, a high ranking official of the Cambodian People’s Party, went to strengthen the party’s affairs in Memut [Kompong Cham] and ordered lower officials to create fraudulent Forms 1018 and other cases.’

“This means that imposters of the Cambodian People’s Party and of the NEC start to become known gradually. Therefore, the international community will absolutely not recognize the election results.”

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.2, #235, 3.9.2008
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Wednesday, 3 September 2008

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