Mr. Douglas Gardner
Resident Representative
United Nations Development Program
53 Pasteur Street
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
May 15, 2007
Mr. Gardner,
We believe that the number of Parliamentarians in the National Assembly should be increased from 123 to at least 135 for the 2008 election, according to the formula stipulated in Chapter II, Article 9 of the Law on the Election of the National Assembly. Attached to this letter are a copy of the relevant law and our calculations.
The government, reluctant to make this change, has offered only one defense, that the financial cost will be too great. We believe this not to be a rational argument, but rather a thinly veiled justification for maintaining an inexcusably weak Parliament. In particular, the government may fear that the addition of marginal seats will increase the strength of the opposition, which is steadily gaining popular support.
Cambodia suffers from a lack of checks and balances. Unlike in more developed democracies, our legislature is unable to halt the excessive actions of the executive branch. Increasing the number of Parliamentarians would be an important step towards investing the legislative branch with the power it deserves.
Although our population has increased nearly 50% since the first parliamentary seat allocation in 1993, the number of MPs has never been changed to reflect this growth (with the exception of adding one seat for a newly created province and two seats for two newly created municipalities). The constitutional option to increase Parliament’s size, as provided by the 1997 election law, was neglected in the 2003 election. It should not be the case again for the 2008 election. In 1993, one Parliamentarian represented roughly 86,000 citizens. In 2008, if we do not increase the Parliament’s size, one MP will represent 118,000 citizens. How high ought we let this burden go?
At an annual cost of US$25,000 per parliamentarian, an increase of 12 Parliamentarians would cost the government merely US$300,000 per year. If our legislature were stronger in curbing poor and outright corrupt executive spending and revenue collection, we would save many times over this small initial investment. A stronger legislature makes fiscal sense.
We hope that the UNDP will encourage the government of Cambodia to support an increase in the number of Parliamentarians in the National Assembly, in accord with the sound principles of the separation of powers and in accord with Cambodian law.
Sincerely,
Sam Rainsy
Parliamentary Opposition Leader
PP: 2003 National Population (13,213,947)
NP: Number of National Assembly Seats in 2003 (123)
Q (PP/NP): Citizens Represented Per MP (107,430)
Pa: Projected 2008 National Population (14,560,930)
NA (Pa/Q): Number of National Assembly Seats in 2008 According to the Law (135)
Our population numbers are taken from the Ministry of Planning (MoP). PP refers to the actual total population in 2003, while Pa refers to the projected total population in 2008, as was agreed in a May 10, 2007 meeting among the members of the Committee for the Determination of National Assembly Seats. We call attention to the fact that population statistics other than those from the MoP show a larger increase in population, suggesting that the National Assembly may need even more than twelve members to be added.
Art 5.
Members of the National Assembly shall be elected by a general, universal, free, fair, equal, direct, and secret election by means of secret balloting. The electoral system shall be proportional representation, with provincial/municipal constituencies.
Art 6.
The National Assembly shall have at least one hundred and twenty seats.
Art 7.
On the third year of every legislative tern, the Council of Ministers shall form a Committee for the Determination of National Assembly Seats to modify the number of seats and allocate seats to each province/municipality. The Committee shall be composed of:
Taking account of demographic, geographic, social, and economic factors, the Committee shall report and recommend to the Royal Government whether to increase or keep same number of seats.
The Royal Government shall draft a law concerning the determination of the number of seats to be passed by the National Assembly.
Where there is no modification adopted, the number of seats of the last legislative term shall stay the same.
Art 8.
The number of seats of the National Assembly and the number of seats allocated to each province/municipality shall be published at least one year before the Election Day.
Art 9.
The new number of seats shall be computed according to the following formula, disregarding the remainders:
PP/NP = Pa/Q = NA
where:
PP represents the number of Cambodian citizens in the last election of the National Assembly;
NP represents the current number of seats in the National Assembly.
Q represents the quotient in whole numbers (disregarding the remainder);
Pa represents the current number of Cambodian citizens;
NA represents remainder; the new number of seats, disregarding the remainder
The number of seats allocated to each province/municipality shall be computed according to the following formula:
P
-- =N
Q
where:
P represents the number of Cambodian citizens in the province/municipality.
Q represents the quotient obtained from above;
N represents the new number of seats for the province/ municipality, disregarding the remainder.
Art 10.
A province/municipality, for which the number of citizens is less than the quotient, shall be allocated one seat.
As for the remaining seats to be allocated after allocation in accordance with the above formula, the Commission may recommend to allocate them to any province(s), taking account of geographical, social and economic considerations.
Resident Representative
United Nations Development Program
53 Pasteur Street
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
May 15, 2007
Mr. Gardner,
We believe that the number of Parliamentarians in the National Assembly should be increased from 123 to at least 135 for the 2008 election, according to the formula stipulated in Chapter II, Article 9 of the Law on the Election of the National Assembly. Attached to this letter are a copy of the relevant law and our calculations.
The government, reluctant to make this change, has offered only one defense, that the financial cost will be too great. We believe this not to be a rational argument, but rather a thinly veiled justification for maintaining an inexcusably weak Parliament. In particular, the government may fear that the addition of marginal seats will increase the strength of the opposition, which is steadily gaining popular support.
Cambodia suffers from a lack of checks and balances. Unlike in more developed democracies, our legislature is unable to halt the excessive actions of the executive branch. Increasing the number of Parliamentarians would be an important step towards investing the legislative branch with the power it deserves.
Although our population has increased nearly 50% since the first parliamentary seat allocation in 1993, the number of MPs has never been changed to reflect this growth (with the exception of adding one seat for a newly created province and two seats for two newly created municipalities). The constitutional option to increase Parliament’s size, as provided by the 1997 election law, was neglected in the 2003 election. It should not be the case again for the 2008 election. In 1993, one Parliamentarian represented roughly 86,000 citizens. In 2008, if we do not increase the Parliament’s size, one MP will represent 118,000 citizens. How high ought we let this burden go?
At an annual cost of US$25,000 per parliamentarian, an increase of 12 Parliamentarians would cost the government merely US$300,000 per year. If our legislature were stronger in curbing poor and outright corrupt executive spending and revenue collection, we would save many times over this small initial investment. A stronger legislature makes fiscal sense.
We hope that the UNDP will encourage the government of Cambodia to support an increase in the number of Parliamentarians in the National Assembly, in accord with the sound principles of the separation of powers and in accord with Cambodian law.
Sincerely,
Sam Rainsy
Parliamentary Opposition Leader
x X x
Calculations for Increase in Parliament Size
PP: 2003 National Population (13,213,947)
NP: Number of National Assembly Seats in 2003 (123)
Q (PP/NP): Citizens Represented Per MP (107,430)
Pa: Projected 2008 National Population (14,560,930)
NA (Pa/Q): Number of National Assembly Seats in 2008 According to the Law (135)
Our population numbers are taken from the Ministry of Planning (MoP). PP refers to the actual total population in 2003, while Pa refers to the projected total population in 2008, as was agreed in a May 10, 2007 meeting among the members of the Committee for the Determination of National Assembly Seats. We call attention to the fact that population statistics other than those from the MoP show a larger increase in population, suggesting that the National Assembly may need even more than twelve members to be added.
x X x
Law on the Election of the National Assembly
(Adopted by the National Assembly on December 19, 1997)
(Promulgated by the King on December 26, 1997)
CHAPTER II
ELECTORAL SYSTEM AND DETERMINATION OF SEATS
(Adopted by the National Assembly on December 19, 1997)
(Promulgated by the King on December 26, 1997)
CHAPTER II
ELECTORAL SYSTEM AND DETERMINATION OF SEATS
Art 5.
Members of the National Assembly shall be elected by a general, universal, free, fair, equal, direct, and secret election by means of secret balloting. The electoral system shall be proportional representation, with provincial/municipal constituencies.
Art 6.
The National Assembly shall have at least one hundred and twenty seats.
Art 7.
On the third year of every legislative tern, the Council of Ministers shall form a Committee for the Determination of National Assembly Seats to modify the number of seats and allocate seats to each province/municipality. The Committee shall be composed of:
- a representative from each political party currently having seats in the National Assembly;
- two representatives of the Ministry of Interior;
- the Director of the National Institute of Statistics.
Taking account of demographic, geographic, social, and economic factors, the Committee shall report and recommend to the Royal Government whether to increase or keep same number of seats.
The Royal Government shall draft a law concerning the determination of the number of seats to be passed by the National Assembly.
Where there is no modification adopted, the number of seats of the last legislative term shall stay the same.
Art 8.
The number of seats of the National Assembly and the number of seats allocated to each province/municipality shall be published at least one year before the Election Day.
Art 9.
The new number of seats shall be computed according to the following formula, disregarding the remainders:
PP/NP = Pa/Q = NA
where:
PP represents the number of Cambodian citizens in the last election of the National Assembly;
NP represents the current number of seats in the National Assembly.
Q represents the quotient in whole numbers (disregarding the remainder);
Pa represents the current number of Cambodian citizens;
NA represents remainder; the new number of seats, disregarding the remainder
The number of seats allocated to each province/municipality shall be computed according to the following formula:
P
-- =N
Q
where:
P represents the number of Cambodian citizens in the province/municipality.
Q represents the quotient obtained from above;
N represents the new number of seats for the province/ municipality, disregarding the remainder.
Art 10.
A province/municipality, for which the number of citizens is less than the quotient, shall be allocated one seat.
As for the remaining seats to be allocated after allocation in accordance with the above formula, the Commission may recommend to allocate them to any province(s), taking account of geographical, social and economic considerations.
4 comments:
What we need to do here is to amend
the stupid law that blown our
budget out of the door. It should
suggested only 8 MPs per million
of population, and leave it at
that.
To increase the number of MP, the Government need to increase budget for these MP salary and their secretaries salary. Also as during each term, the MP do not just earn much salary than other Public servants, but they have special purk to buy cars with tax exemption which cost too much for the Government. Areak Prey
We need ballancing judgement...when government cannot increase the number of MPs according demographic and neccessity, so what government can explain us the waste of millions of national budget to corruption and inflation...etc?
Well that just it: we don't want
to spend millions USD to go after
those who exagerated their taxes
by a few USD. It is bad bussiness,
and it is an abuse of the taxpayers
money. It is not a waste to let
them go, and we need not to explain
anything.
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