Washington
28/05/2007
Koul Panha, executive director of the election watchdog Comfrel, told "Hello VOA" Monday that increasing the number of seats in the National Assembly could have improved the representation of the Cambodian people.
With 123 parliamentarians in the National Assembly, each one represents 100,000 people, compared to a one-to-40,000 ratio when the government began, Koul Panha said.
More seats would fall in line with the law and lower the ratio, he said, discounting the opinion that the addition of seven more parliamentarians would add a strain to the national budget.
Several callers suggested parliamentarians don't do enough to help their constituents, especially where land-grabs by the wealthy are concerned.
The National Assembly was more active now than it has been in the past, Koul Panha said, but it needed to do more.
The National Assembly is an important part of a system of checks and balances that prevents the executive branch of the government from doing whatever it wants, he said.
One caller said, given the state of the National Assembly, adding more seats would be useless.
With 123 parliamentarians in the National Assembly, each one represents 100,000 people, compared to a one-to-40,000 ratio when the government began, Koul Panha said.
More seats would fall in line with the law and lower the ratio, he said, discounting the opinion that the addition of seven more parliamentarians would add a strain to the national budget.
Several callers suggested parliamentarians don't do enough to help their constituents, especially where land-grabs by the wealthy are concerned.
The National Assembly was more active now than it has been in the past, Koul Panha said, but it needed to do more.
The National Assembly is an important part of a system of checks and balances that prevents the executive branch of the government from doing whatever it wants, he said.
One caller said, given the state of the National Assembly, adding more seats would be useless.
In a poor country, teachers are
ReplyDeleteasked to teach a bigger classes.
Similarly, MPs shoud do the same
thing, that is to represent bigger
number of people (125,000/MP).
There is nothing unreasonable
about that. We have to live with
our mean, not beyond.
I just learned that Vietnam MP
ReplyDeleterepresents 160,000 people/MP. Thus,
I would ignored these corrupted
babies called for more MP seats
at about 114,000/MP. If we have to,
we can cut more seats from in
parliament to shift the money to
our ministry of justice and law
enforcing officers to help fight
corruption.
I just learned that Youn MP
ReplyDeleterepresents 45,000 people/MP. Thus,
I would ignored these CPP (Communist
Pro Youn Party)corrupted members
don't call for more MP seats at
about 50,000/MP. If we have to,
we can add more seats from in
parliament to shift the money to
the MPs to help fight corruption in
CPP (Communist Pro Youn Party).
There is a need to evaluate the performance of our MPs first before jumping to any call for an increase in their number. Have they done their best to represent their constituents yet? It is highly doubtful. Many CPP MPs seem to do better than many of the MPs from other parties (proportionally speacking) as the CPP has a solid extensive structure from the national down to the village level. CCP members have more resources obviously, and are perhaps more resourceful.
ReplyDeleteClaiming that any increase in the number of MPs would favour the Sam Rainsy Party as a KI report has calimed, and then calling for such an increase, are definely not justified.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong