The National League of Commune/Sangkat (NLC/S) and the Open Institute hosted a half day forum on November 21, 2012 called "Youth and the 2013 National Election." The forum was conducted at the Open Institute and was funded through The Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Region (SPIDER).
Ms. Sok Sokunthea, Gender Based Violence Project Manager, gave a welcome speech to thank all 48 participants (24 women) for attending the forum. Ms. Sokunthea mentioned the cause of today's forum is that "Youth population is increasing yearly by about 300,000. However, most of the youth lack an interest in elections, and many of them do not participate with vote registering, vote checking list, or dissemination on election information, according to the survey of COMFREL in 2012 and UNDP in 2011. The Open Institute conducted this forum with three specific expected results: First, participants, particularly youth, will be aware of their important roles in the elections; second, youth will share their key concerns and barriers regarding their participation in the elections; third, participants will share their main ideas to develop a strategy to promote youth participation in the elections."
Continuing to agenda, Mr. Hy Rong, Director of Operation Department from the National Election Committee, said that "This forum is very important and useful although it is a bit early before the election schedule". He moved on to his presentation on "The key principles of election" instead of "The procedure and process of the 2013 National Election" because the procedure and process of the 2013 National Election are not approved yet. He added that NEC plays an important role to serve to the public and political parties on the election process.
Mr. Pang Kimheng, representative youth of Youth Senate, presented some key challenges that youth face like work migration, having no identity card, and the lack of interest in elections...etc. In his presentation he also gave suggestions to encourage youth participation in elections such as there should be polling station/s for migration youth to vote for an election and to encourage NGO to get as much as possible youth involvement as an observer in the provinces during the election.
Representative from COMREL, Mr. Sin Titseiha, Monitoring Officer, presented the fact that less youth participated in the commune/sangkat council election in June 2012 and provided some recommendations to promote youth participation at the commune/sangkat level.
Ms. Sok Sokunthea gave a speech and celebrated the forum on “Youth and the 2013 National Election” Picture: Open Institute Date: November 21, 2012
Attendees listened to Mr. Hy Rong, Director of Operation Department of NEC, on his presentation Picture : Open Institute Date : November 21, 2012
Mr. Sin Tithseiha, Monitoring Officer of COMFREL, gave a presentation in forum on “Over view on youth participation in election Picture : Open Institute Date : November 21, 2012
Attendee participated in plenary discussion on the questionnaire of the forum Picture : Open Institute Date : November 21, 2012
Youth representative responded to the question in forum discussion Picture : Open Institute Date : November 21, 2012
Representative of VOD expressed her idea on youth participation in election process Picture : Open Institute Date : November 21, 2012