FINAL REPORT ON SURVEY OF March 2013 Supported by Committee For Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL) #138, Str 122 Teuk Laak 1, Toulkork, Phnom Penh xumE®hVl Box: 1145 COMFREL Tel: 023 884 150 Fax:023 885 745 Email³ [email protected], [email protected] Website³ www.comfrel.org Contents FORWARD ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 VOTER LIST, VOTER REGISTRATION AND AUDIT OF THE VOTER LIST (SVRA PLUS) FOR THE 2013 NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTION ..................................................................................................................................... 7 1. BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................... 7 2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 12 3. PROJECT OUTPUTS ................................................................................................................................... 14 4. SURVEY LIMITATIONS AND LESSON LEARNED ........................................................................................... 15 5. SUMMARY AND PRINCIPLE FINDINGS ....................................................................................................... 15 6. LEGAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................................................ 17 7. RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................... 21 8. DATA ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................................................... 22 8.1 Voter registration .................................................................................................................................. 22 8.1.1 Level of voter registration by gender and age-group............................................................................. 22 8.1.2 Level of new voter registration 2012 .................................................................................................... 23 8.1.3 18 year old youth who registered to vote ............................................................................................. 24 8.1.4 Eligible voters who did not register and educational level .................................................................... 24 8.1.5 Eligible voters who did not register to vote and occupation .................................................................. 25 8.1.6 Cause for not registering ..................................................................................................................... 25 8.1.7 Registered voters who did not self-register .......................................................................................... 26 8.1.8 Eligible voters who faced difficulties in registration .............................................................................. 26 8.2 Information ........................................................................................................................................... 27 8.2.1 Sources of voter registration information ............................................................................................ 27 8.2.2 Preliminary voter list ........................................................................................................................... 28 8.2.3 The expired ID card ............................................................................................................................. 28 8.2.4 Voter understanding of registration criteria ......................................................................................... 28 8.3 Voter’s identity verification .................................................................................................................... 29 8.3.1 Registered voters verifying their name on the 2011 voter list or/and the 2012 preliminary voter list ..... 29 8.3.2 Reasons for not verifying names on the 2011 voter list or/and the 2012 preliminary voter list .............. 29 8.4 Irregularities .......................................................................................................................................... 30 8.4.1 Identity Certificate for the Election ...................................................................................................... 30 8.5 Voter’s fears .......................................................................................................................................... 30 8.5.1 Voter’s fears ....................................................................................................................................... 30 8.5.2 Cause of voter’s fears related to voter registration ............................................................................... 31 8.5.3 Opinions on changing the registration system ...................................................................................... 32 8.6 Voter’s future commitment .................................................................................................................... 32 8.6.1 Voters who will vote in the 2013 national election ............................................................................... 32 8.6.2 Causes for not going to vote ................................................................................................................ 32 8.7 Documents for voter registration............................................................................................................ 33 8.7.1 Voters who used official document to register ..................................................................................... 33 8.8 Data Accuracy ........................................................................................................................................ 33 8.8.1 Verification of eligible voters’ data on the 2012 voter list compared with the 2011 and the 2008 voter list ................................................................................................................................................................... 33 8.8.2 Registered voters had no data on the voter list was found in the deletion form .................................... 34 8.8.3 The case study on verification of preliminary voter list received from both commune/sangkats and the NEC ............................................................................................................................................................. 35 8.8.4 The case study on verification between the deletion form 1025 from commune/sangkats and the deletion forms 1016 and 1017 from NEC ...................................................................................................... 36 8.8.5 The case study of verification of preliminary voter lists and official voter lists from the NEC ................. 36 9. CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 37 APPENDIX I: SURVEY METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 39 APPENDIX II: QUESTIONNAIRES .................................................................................................................... 48 APPENDIX III COMPARISON OF VOTER REGISTRATION DATA BETWEEN 2012 AND 2011 ................................ 55 ACROYNYMS COMFREL Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia CPP Cambodian People’s Party SRP Sam Rainsy Party HRP Human Right Party NP The Nationalist Party EMO Election Monitoring Organization MOI Ministry of Interior NEC National Election Committee ICE Identification Certificate for Elections VIN Voter Information Notice VOTER LIST, VOTER REGISTRATION, AND AUDIT OF THE VOTER LIST PLUS VERIFICATION OF THE DELETION FORMS FOR THE 2013 NATIONAL ELECTION (SVRA-PLUS) FORWARD The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL) serves to promote democracy and citizen participation in the spirit of building capacity for nationwide networking and cooperation with member organizations and partners. Democracy is not just about elections, but free and fair elections as a necessary condition of democracy. COMFREL continues to devote great efforts to promote democratic and legitimate elections. To contribute to the reform of the election framework, COMFREL and other election stakeholders decided to conduct a survey to uncover and understand irregularities concerning voter registration and voter lists. COMFREL is indebted to master trainers and observers who were actively engaged in implementing the survey during June 2012-January 2013 and made the survey possible. COMFREL wishes to express appreciation for the courtesy and cooperation extended by the National Election Committee (NEC), major political parties, and other authorities related to elections at all levels. COMFREL wishes to express special gratitude and pay tribute to its donors Oxfam Novib, Forum Syd, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), and the European Union (EU). Special acknowledgement goes to our core team made up of the following members: Mr Korn Savang, Ms Kong Ravine, Mr Kim Chhorn, Ms Sieng Dahlia, Mr Blang Boeurth, Mr Sin Tithseiha, Mr Meas Serey Sophorn, Mr Ou Rithy,