Cambodians working legally in Thailand who hold a passport will have no trouble re-entering the country if they want to go hom to register to vote in local elections next year, permanent secretary for labour Puntrik Samiti said on Wednesday.
ML Puntrik was responding to call by Cambodian MP Mu Sochua, a former minister for women's affairs, for the estimated 1.1 million Cambodian migrants working in Thailand, both legally and illegally, to register to vote in council elections scheduled for June 4, 2017.
The voter registration period is from Sept 1 to Nov 29 this year.
She said registered workers who have passports can travel home and return without having to reregister, on condition they get permission from their employers.
However, Cambodian workers with a pink, temporary work permit were not eligible.
"If Cambodia asks for cooperation, the Labour Ministry will react the same way as it has done with Myanmar in last year's elections. The ministry will ask employers to cooperate and allow Cambodian migrant workers to take leave and return to work. On political issues, the ministry will have to be strictly neutral," she said.
Arak Prommanee, director-general of the Employment Department, said the Labour Ministry could make this allowance only for passport-holding workers.
As for illegal workers, that was a policy matter for the government to decide, he added.