Thursday, July 31, 2008

Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner on the elections in Cambodia

Thursday, July 31, 2008
7th Space Interactive

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, underlined the importance of these fourth parliamentary elections since the signing of the Paris Peace Accord in October 1991.

“I congratulate the Cambodian voters for showing their commitment to peaceful elections. In comparison to previous elections important progress has been made including efforts to improve transparency guarantees. However, a number of key international standards for democratic elections, mostly related to the uneven playing field between political parties, have not been met. I call upon all political actors to seize the opportunity to address the problems encountered and to commit to further strengthening democracy in Cambodia. The EU stands ready to accompany these efforts. I also want to thank Chief Observer Martin Callanan, MEP, and the whole observation mission for their hard work and commitment.”

The European Commission deployed an EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) for the 27 July 2008 National Assembly elections in Cambodia led by Mr. Martin Callanan, Member of the European Parliament. The EU EOM is as a further contribution by the European Commission to support democracy in Cambodia. The preliminary statement was presented by the Chief Observer Mr. Martin Callanan together with the Head of the European Parliament delegation, Mr. Glyn Ford, on the 29th of July.

The mission concluded that the conduct of these elections shows improvements to previous elections. Polling and counting were well organized; election authorities established transparency guarantees for corroborating polling station results; also, civil society participated more actively than in past elections. Despite these positive notes, the mission also concluded that the elections fell short of a number of key international standards. Inter alia, there was a lack of confidence in the impartiality of electoral authorities; the campaign period was marked by widespread use of state resources; access to media was difficult for opposition parties; and civic education was assessed as biased in favor of the ruling party.

The EU EOM deployed 130 observers from 25 EU Member States and Norway throughout Cambodia to observe and assess the electoral process in accordance with international standards for election observation and the laws of Cambodia. The EOM will stay on the ground until the end of August to observe the tabulation of results and post-election developments. A final report covering the whole electoral process including recommendations for future elections will be published by the EU EOM in the coming months.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nothing would help. It's all only rumors.

Anonymous said...

That's what I'm thinking all along:

CPP doesn't need to win through violence. But it is smart way to win by cheating and just little smoothies candy tactics, which White skin people in US and Europe groupe NEVER to catch before their own eyes. May Snake bite you all.

White Skin people are looking for gross violent conduct manner Whereas CPP in 2008 is different than CPP in 2003, 1997, CPP is working underneath the table, dugged the tunnels, moving supplies through underground network, and hypnotized White skin into submissive sedation to declare this election is not met international standard (who care)as long as very muchless violence
(CPP laugh and said got you!!!) Who care this election didn't meet international standard, White Skin said that CPP hear you all but surely White skin guys are not going to put the stamp on to declare this election invalid.
so the buttomline is It is up to Electoral committee to put this to end BRAVO!!!

Soon after that those White Skin people will pack their luggages and leave Cambodia and leave every thing is up to us. CPP won't resort any violence but is ready to use western style training technic (coerhsiveness/pressure through legal means to force some people into submission).

One example: New 90 CPP MPs will threaten again to strip immunnity from Sam Rainsy regarding defamation lawsuit filed by Hor Nam Hong, but if Mr. Sam himself goes along with new assesmbly by not attempting to bloc. Then CPP will keep quiet. If Khem Sokha is trying to push CPP, his old wound corruption case, CPP will use against him.

In 2012 election CPP will use different methods. And they are going to very easy to use.(one of them is money talk everywhere folks)

Anonymous said...

2:27am
What do mean by white skins?
Do you mean Barang? or American?
Come on man say it clear!

Anonymous said...

As of todya, other Western countries have spoken about the election irregularities; we need to hear what the US embassy say about the election result.

The people of Cambodia would respectfully like to hear from the US.

Anonymous said...

2:27,
Very true!
The EU(EOM) election monitors needs to set foot in the countryside where the threat take place. Not, just at the voting booth. Bottom line, they're just there courtesy of Hun Sen for a good vacations. You know they were taken care of i.e cater etc.

Anonymous said...

11:46 AM

The US Embassy in Phnom Penh has all the information with respect to violence and threat before and during the general election, but remain neutral (calm?) until now.

Has anyone heard anything from the US ambassador about the election result?

The US is up to something, that's why it has that multi-million dollar embassy compound in Phnom Penh.

Anonymous said...

I SAID THIS FOLKS:

US AND EUROPEAN (WHITE SKIN) ARE BEING HYPNOTIZED BY CPP AND SLEPT SOUNDLY.