First published on COMFREL's website on 10 June 2022.

Civil Society Organizations that have collaboratively deployed election observers to monitor the situation of the Commune/Sangkat Councils Election in the 5th mandate, which took place on 5 June 2022, have found election irregularities occurring during the polling process on the voting and counting day as follows:

As a result of the observation during the polling process, some irregularities found are the following: (1) the presence of the authorities, namely village members, village chiefs, commune chiefs, police officers and candidates who have been standing for the commune council election inside the observed polling station premises. Further, it has been observed that the said persons were waiting to take note of the name of voters who enter to cast their ballot in front of the polling states or at villages in communes/Sangkats; (2) the people not casting their ballot due to the following reasons: being unable to find their name and their personal data mentioned in the Election Identification Document different from that in the voter list as well as having no the Election Identification Document while their Khmer ID card was either expired or lost.

Meanwhile, in the ballot paper counting process at some polling stations, we observed the irregularities listed as follows: (1) election observers were prevented from entering into those ballot counting stations to observe the counting process or/and were barred from recording the ballot counting process at those specific polling stations, namely polling station 1304 of Trapeang Pring Commune and Polling Station 0065 of Seda Commune in Tbong Khmum province as well as some polling stations in other locations; (2) the ballot paper counting process at some polling stations was observed to be conducted in a closed and non-transparent manner, such as closing the gates of the polling stations and closing the doors and windows of the ballot counting stations and /or not allowing people to witness the ballot paper counting; (3) Some polling station electoral officers did not post the minute of ballot counting (Form 1102) in front of the polling stations after the polling process was completed; (4) some polling stations did not fill out the information set forth in the laws, regulations and procedures on the results of the ballot paper counting for each political party in the minute of ballot counting (Form 1102) to be posted in front of the polling stations.

As what Civil Society Organizations have publicly announced, the election observation conducted by Civil Society Organizations is not to make an assessment of the outcome of the electoral process. It is noted that the results of this observation will be used as a basis to respond to the six-point minimum conditions of the genuine, free, and fair elections, which are drawn from the Cambodian Constitution, international instruments and covenants, the Paris Peace Accord and the recommendations provided by United Nations bodies and other relevant stakeholders, including the IPU Standards on Free and Fair Elections.

Pursuant to the results obtained from the aforementioned observed election irregularities, Civil Society Organizations continue to call on electoral stakeholders to review the fulfilment of the said six-point minimum conditions proposed by Civil Society Organizations, especially the genuine enforcement of the laws, regulations and procedures for the election; neutrality of civil servants and armed forces; the strengthening of the National Election Committee (NEC)'s electoral management and administrative capacity; as well as the enhancement of the rights and roles of Civil Society Organizations in the electoral process.

For more information, please contact:

1. Mrs. Chan Ramy, Executive Director of the Youth Resource Development Program, 012 663 937
2. Mr. Kim Chhorn, Executive Director of COMFREL, 012 942 019
3. Mr. Ny Sokha, President of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC), 086 374 666
4. Mr. Yong Kim Eng, President of the People Center for Development and Peace, 016 828 211
5. Mr. Moeun Tola, Executive Director of the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, 012 921 961

Download the full report: "Preliminary Summary Report on 'Situation of Election Process on the Voting and Counting Day'"