PHNOM PENH, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's National Election Committee (NEC) on Monday released the code of conduct for national and international observers in the forthcoming national election.
"The code of conduct of electoral observers aims to set out important measures for non-governmental organizations, associations, and electoral observers to fulfill their duties in a neutral and impartial position," according to a NEC's statement.
The statement said electoral observations should be conducted with integrity and transparency, and electoral observers should perform their tasks without any interference.
It said the observers should not interfere in internal affairs of Cambodia, and should not talk with voter registration applicants or voters in term of supporting or opposing any political party or candidate.
Also, the observers should not conduct any survey for any political party or candidate, and should not provide a written statement or interview to media in the form of supporting any political party or candidate.
The code of conduct also banned observers from disturbing the process of voter registration, voting and ballot counting.
Under the Law on the Election of Members of the National Assembly, the violator will be fined between 2,500 U.S. dollars and 5,000 U.S. dollars by the NEC, the statement said.
According to the statement, after the election process is completed, the electoral observers should submit a written report on their observation and conclusion on election process to the NEC.
The Southeast Asian nation is scheduled to hold a national election for the 125-seat parliament on July 29, 2018 and some 8.3 million Cambodians are eligible to cast their ballots.
As of Monday, the NEC had officially recognized 16 out of the 20 political parties that registered to contest in the election, according to another NEC statement.
The statement said that the NEC gave another five days (till Saturday) to the remaining four political parties to make adjustments and add some more requirements.
Among the recognized political parties are the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, the royalist Funcinpec Party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh, and the Grassroots Democracy Party.
The three-week electoral campaign will start from July 7 to 27.
Hun Sen on Monday called on the authorities to freely allow political party leaders to meet their activists or supporters at different places across the kingdom.
"It will not be a free contest if we prevent the leaders of political parties from visiting various places to meet their members or supporters," the prime minister said during a groundbreaking ceremony for a road construction in Kampong Chhnang province.
Meanwhile, Hun Sen also appealed to the people to vote for the CPP, saying that only the CPP could maintain the country's hard-earned peace and development.
