FACTORY  WORKERS  MASSIVELY  TRAVELING  FROM  PHNOM PENH  
TO  THEIR  NATIVE  PROVINCES  TO  GET  REGISTERED  AS  VOTERS.

All the photos below were taken on 14 October 2006.


Around 7:00 a.m. : Workers waiting for buses or collective taxis
at the Phnom Penh Central Market (Psar Thmey).


Around 11:00 a.m. : Collective taxis arrive at the ferry port (Mekong crossing point)
of Ruissei Chroy, in Muk Kampoul district, Kandal province.

Around 11:00 a.m. : Collective taxis arrive at the ferry port (Mekong crossing point)
of Ruissei Chroy, in Muk Kampoul district, Kandal province.


Around 11:00 a.m. : Collective taxis and "Remorques" arrive at the ferry port (Mekong crossing point)
of Ruissei Chroy, in Muk Kampoul district, Kandal province.


Around 12.00 a.m. : Ruissei Chroy ferry crossing the Mekong from Kandal province.
to Kompong Cham province (Srey Santhor district).


Around 12.00 a.m. : Ruissei Chroy ferry crossing the Mekong from Kandal province
to Kompong Cham province (Srey Santhor district).


Around 12.00 a.m. : Ruissei Chroy ferry crossing the Mekong from Kandal province
to Kompong Cham province (Srey Santhor district).


Around 12.00 a.m. : Ruissei Chroy ferry crossing the Mekong from Kandal province
to Kompong Cham province (Srey Santhor district).


Around 3:00 pm : A makeshift voter registration office at Chey village, Meanchey commune,
Srey Santhor district, Kompong Cham province.


Around 3:00 pm : A the above-mentioned office, many young female factory workers from Phnom Penh try to register.


Around 3:00 pm : Outside the above-mentioned office, older people who live in the village on a
permanent basis, voluntarily accept to wait and to give way the workers from Phnom Penh.

Around 4:00 pm : Inside the above-mentioned office.

Around 4:00 pm : Inside the above-mentioned office.

Around 4:00 pm : Inside the above-mentioned office.


Around 4:00 pm : Inside the above-mentioned office.


Around 4:00 pm : Inside the above-mentioned office.
The yellow document is a "Family Book" and the smaller document in the same hands
is a "National ID Card".

 

October 14, 2006 

SRP PROTESTS AGAINST VIOLATION OF WORKERS’ RIGHTS
DURING VOTER REGISTRATION PROCESS

In an unprecedented and indescribable mess, tens of thousands of factory workers are trying today to get registered as voters throughout the country. Coinciding with this weekend, some 300,000 factory workers residing in or nearby Phnom Penh are generally given 2 days off to travel to their native villages in the provinces to get registered. Because little preparation has been made for this massive exodus, there are huge traffic jams since the early hours of the morning. People are stuck on the road and along the Mekong since there are not enough boats and ferries to carry people across Cambodia’s main river to get from Phnom Penh to the densely populated provinces of Kompong Cham and Prey Veng. Workers have to wait for hours and most of them will not get to their native villages before this afternoon. If they are lucky enough, they will get there before the closing of registration offices at 5:00 pm.

Once arrived in their villages, workers are likely to face serious problems related to an organized chaos on the part of the ruling CPP and state authorities. The authorities apparently try to limit the number of factory workers with the right to vote because they suspect that most workers would not vote for the ruling party, which is perceived as allied with factory owners who exploit workers.

The problems encountered by workers are as follows:

1- They might not be able to locate their commune’s voter registration office, which is moving from one village to another village in that commune, according to a schedule that is too arbitrarily “flexible” to be predictable (intentional confusion).

2- The registration office, which often has already been understaffed, might definitely not be able to cope with the additional and exceptional influx of potential voters that will last for only two days.

3- The registration office might have run out of administrative forms (“Form 1018” and “Form 1022”) that are required for voter registration: this situation is now prevailing in nearly all provinces. 

4- In each commune, the CPP commune chief and commune councilors who are normally encouraged to help the commune clerk to serve the people, might be absent on this occasion: such instances were reported today in Srey Santhor district, Kompong Cham province.

Eventually, most workers will return home in Phnom Penh Sunday evening (October 15) to resume work on Monday morning, without being registered as voters. The CPP will have succeeded in depriving workers of their voting rights.
 

SRP Members of Parliament

OTHER PHOTOS TAKEN ALSO ON 14 OCTOBER 2006
 

KOMPONG CHAM PROVINCE

Around 4:00 pm : A secret registration office in Prek Kambeh village, Prek Po commune,
Srey Santhor district, Kompong Cham province. Illegitimate voters are fraudulently registered by CPP officials.

Around 4:00 pm : A secret registration office in Prek Kambeh village, Prek Po commune,
Srey Santhor district, Kompong Cham province. Illegitimate voters are fraudulently registered by CPP officials.
 

BANTEAY MEANCHEY PROVINCE

Around 9:00 am : Kilometer Four village, Poipet commune, O Chreuv district, Banteay Meanchey province.
Registration Office # 0355 is closed, and potential voters turned away, because there are no more
administrative forms (# 1018 and # 1022). Countless offices all over the country have been closed down for the same reason.