PM Wants More Registered Voters

PM Wants More Registered Voters

As Prime Minister Hun Sen appealed to citizens who have not yet registered to vote to do so, the Thai Labor Ministry announced last week it would allow Cambodians who are legally working in Thailand to return for voter registration.

At a graduation ceremony for students of Cambodia University for Specialties at Koh Pich’s Exhibition Center yesterday morning, Mr. Hun Sen urged all citizens who have yet to register to vote for next year’s commune elections to register soon.

“I would like to appeal to citizens who have not yet registered to vote to register. There are nearly four million people who have already registered. So I would like to appeal to all citizens who have not yet registered to register,” the prime minister said.

According to the Bangkok Post last Wednesday, Thailand’s Permanent Secretary for Labor Puntrik Samiti said if Cambodia requested cooperation, the Thai Labor Ministry would work the same way it did with Myanmar in its elections last year.

“The ministry will ask employers to cooperate and allow Cambodian migrant workers to take leave and return to work. On political issues, the ministry will have to be strictly neutral,” she said, adding that only registered workers with passports could return home provided they had permission from their employers.

National Election Committee spokesman Hang Puthea and Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Sour could not be reached for comment.

In early August, Cambodia National Rrescue Party member for Battambang province Mu Sochua called on the estimated 1.1 million Cambodian workers in Thailand to register to vote in commune elections slated for June 4 next year.

As of 6pm on Sunday, according to a press release showing temporary results of the NEC’s voter registration yesterday, 4,074,226 people have already registered to vote.

The new voter registration process started on September 1 and runs until November 29. The NEC said there were more than 9.6 million people who were 18 years of age or older and eligible to register to vote.