17th July, 2018
Nearly 70,000 security personnel would be deployed at all 22,967 polling stations during Cambodia’s general election, a National Election Committee (NEC) member said on Tuesday.
“On the election day, three uniformed security agents will protect at each polling station,’’ NEC member, Hel Sarath, said during a press conference here.
“The security agents are obliged to prevent any disruption, revolt, intimidation and threat or any possible incidents.
“They are also to ban anyone from bringing weapons, explosives and dangerous objects to the polling stations,’’ he said.
At the event, NEC officials also introduced indelible ink that will be used to apply on the finger of the voters in the upcoming poll.
NEC Secretary-General, Tep Nytha, said the ink will leave an indelible mark on the finger for several weeks, adding “this is one of the measures to prevent people from voting more than one time’’.
The Southeast Asian country is scheduled to hold the general election, for the 125-seat parliament, on July 29.
20 political parties will contest in the election, which will see some 8.38 million people cast their ballots, according to the NEC.
The three-week election campaign began on July 7 and will end on July 27.
In the last election in 2013, eight political parties joined the race.
As a result, the Cambodian People’s Party of Prime Minister, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, won 68 seats against 55 seats for the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in the then-123-seat parliament.
The CNRP was dissolved by the Supreme Court on Nov. 2017 after its leader, Kem Sokha, was arrested and charged with “treason’’ for conspiring with a foreign power in an attempt to overthrow the government.