Press Release: Preliminary Findings on Commune Elections Voting Process

Commune Elections Voting Process goes Smoothly with Minor Irregularities

On June 4, TI Cambodia deployed 1,051 trained and accredited non-partisan citizen observers. This includes 35 supervisors; 822 observers deployed to a random, representative sample of 411 sample polling stations in all 25 provincial to carry out a sample-based observation (SBO); and 200 observers at all 100 of the polling stations in three communes in Phnom Penh, Svay Rieng and Siem Reap provinces. SBO is an advanced election observation methodology, used worldwide, that draws on proven statistics to allow election observers to present an accurate and comprehensive assessment of the election day process.

Overall, the voting process today went smoothly with little to no violence or intimidation and with most polling officials following proper procedures. Some noticeable irregularities that TI Cambodia observed today were the presence of unauthorized individuals in the vicinity of the polling stations, mainly village chiefs and candidates, and registered voters failed to find their names on the voters list. However, these issues did not occur on a wide scale.

TI Cambodia continues to monitor the counting process and will report on additional findings tomorrow morning.

Summary of Voting Process

With 100% of TI Cambodia’s sample-based observers reporting as of 5:30 p.m., TI Cambodia has summarized its preliminary findings below.
Only 1% of polling stations experienced cases of physical violence, intimidation, pressure, and/or harassment.
15% of polling stations had between 1 and 10 registered voters who arrived at the polling station with proper ID, but failed to find their names on the voters list.
In only 1% of polling stations between 1 and 10 individuals were allowed to vote without having their names on the voters list, based on observation, rather then observer’s own investigation.
In 5% of polling stations between 1 and 10 voters were allowed to vote without any proper ID documents, based on observation, rather then observer’s own investigation.
In 99% of polling stations, polling officials always or most of the time made a tick next to the names of voters on the voters list. However, in 1% of polling stations the polling officials never made a tick on the voters list next to the voter’s name.
In 97% of polling stations, voters’ fingers were always marked with indelible ink after voting.
In 97% of polling stations, ballot papers were always stamped before handing them to voters.
25% of polling stations had unauthorized persons present. The most common types of unauthorized persons were village chiefs (14% of polling stations), candidates (11% of polling stations), and police (7% of polling stations).

TI Cambodia will host a press conference to issue a statement tomorrow morning, 5 June, at 08:30am at the Sunway Hotel. This statement will bring together our preliminary findings and conclusions on election day conduct, including assessing the closing and counting process.

For further information related to Sample Based Observation, please refer to www.ticambodia.org/sbo2017.