August 20, 2008By Lao Mong Hay UPI Asia Online
Column: Rule by Fear
Hong Kong, China — The ruling Cambodian People's Party won a landslide victory in the country’s general election on July 27, claiming 90 out of 123 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house in the bicameral parliamentary system – although final results will not be announced till September.
This party almost wiped out its long-standing coalition partner, the Funcinpec party, which saw its seats reduced from 26 to two. Two newly formed parties, the Norodom Ranariddh Party and the Human Rights Party, took two and three seats respectively, while the opposition Sam Rainsy Party increased its seats from 24 to 26.
At first all four small parties rejected the results of the election, alleging it was "rigged" when names of legitimate voters were deleted from electoral rolls while illegitimate voters were allowed to vote. Apparently attracted by the winning party's offer of government positions, Funcinpec soon changed its mind and accepted the election results.
Later on, the Norodom Ranariddh Party also changed its mind, apparently in exchange for the winning party's support for a royal pardon for its leader, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who faces an 18-month jail sentence for breach of trust and who has been living in self-imposed exile abroad.
The other two parties, Sam Rainsy and Human Rights, have however continued to reject the election results and have filed complaints against election irregularities. They have also threatened to boycott the opening of the new Parliament.
Hun Sen, the incumbent prime minister and vice president of the winning Cambodian People's Party, has angrily reacted to this threat and has warned that the seats of the boycotting parties would be taken away from them and given to other parties, although there are no constitutional provisions for such a measure.
In the midst of this post-election conflict, it has been announced that the King of Cambodia will act according to the country's Constitution and summon all the lawmakers-elect to the first meeting of the new Parliament on Sept. 24. The Sam Rainsy Party has said that its lawmakers-elect will not be sworn in and take up their seats until its complaints have been properly addressed.
As is widely known, the winning party – the former communist party that has ruled Cambodia for over 20 years – has complete control over all of the country's institutions from top to bottom, including the two adjudicating mechanisms for election irregularities, that is, the National Election Committee, which is also an election management board, and the Constitutional Council.
It is very unlikely that the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party will have their complaints addressed properly by these two institutions.
In the meantime the ruling Cambodian People's Party seems set to prevent these two parties from playing any active role in the new Parliament, especially the Sam Rainsy Party whose leader, Sam Rainsy, has had continued acrimonious relations with Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is known as "the strongman of Cambodia."
If the ruling party uses its overwhelming majority to forge ahead with the marginalization of the opposition, the Cambodian system of government will evolve into an elected dictatorship – all the more so when its judiciary, as is also well known, is under political control. With command over Parliament and control of all the country's institutions, the ruling party can, as it has done before, enact any law and amend the Constitution to remove all obstacles to its rule.
This development is a break from the practice of the previous Parliament, in which the opposition Sam Rainsy Party had 24 seats and an important role as chair of two out of nine parliamentary committees. The new situation is not conducive to the development of the liberal democracy Cambodia has embraced in its Constitution.
With the absence of an opposition role, the new Parliament cannot be seen as representing the entire nation, only the majority of its citizens who voted for the Cambodian People's Party. This Parliament will lose its status and role as one of the three branches of government.
Checks and balances between these three branches and the separation of powers will completely disappear. Cambodia will then become practically a one-party state, a development which is not friendly to democracy, the rule of law and human rights.
In order to avoid all these negative developments, Cambodia's new Parliament should continue the practice of its predecessor. In order to represent the entire nation it must allow the opposition parties to be an integral part of the Parliament and assume the chairmanship of some of its nine committees, so the opposition can play an active role in the governance of the nation.
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(Lao Mong Hay is a senior researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. He was previously director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and a visiting professor at the University of Toronto in 2003. In 1997, he received an award from Human Rights Watch and the Nansen Medal in 2000 from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.)
This party almost wiped out its long-standing coalition partner, the Funcinpec party, which saw its seats reduced from 26 to two. Two newly formed parties, the Norodom Ranariddh Party and the Human Rights Party, took two and three seats respectively, while the opposition Sam Rainsy Party increased its seats from 24 to 26.
At first all four small parties rejected the results of the election, alleging it was "rigged" when names of legitimate voters were deleted from electoral rolls while illegitimate voters were allowed to vote. Apparently attracted by the winning party's offer of government positions, Funcinpec soon changed its mind and accepted the election results.
Later on, the Norodom Ranariddh Party also changed its mind, apparently in exchange for the winning party's support for a royal pardon for its leader, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who faces an 18-month jail sentence for breach of trust and who has been living in self-imposed exile abroad.
The other two parties, Sam Rainsy and Human Rights, have however continued to reject the election results and have filed complaints against election irregularities. They have also threatened to boycott the opening of the new Parliament.
Hun Sen, the incumbent prime minister and vice president of the winning Cambodian People's Party, has angrily reacted to this threat and has warned that the seats of the boycotting parties would be taken away from them and given to other parties, although there are no constitutional provisions for such a measure.
In the midst of this post-election conflict, it has been announced that the King of Cambodia will act according to the country's Constitution and summon all the lawmakers-elect to the first meeting of the new Parliament on Sept. 24. The Sam Rainsy Party has said that its lawmakers-elect will not be sworn in and take up their seats until its complaints have been properly addressed.
As is widely known, the winning party – the former communist party that has ruled Cambodia for over 20 years – has complete control over all of the country's institutions from top to bottom, including the two adjudicating mechanisms for election irregularities, that is, the National Election Committee, which is also an election management board, and the Constitutional Council.
It is very unlikely that the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party will have their complaints addressed properly by these two institutions.
In the meantime the ruling Cambodian People's Party seems set to prevent these two parties from playing any active role in the new Parliament, especially the Sam Rainsy Party whose leader, Sam Rainsy, has had continued acrimonious relations with Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is known as "the strongman of Cambodia."
If the ruling party uses its overwhelming majority to forge ahead with the marginalization of the opposition, the Cambodian system of government will evolve into an elected dictatorship – all the more so when its judiciary, as is also well known, is under political control. With command over Parliament and control of all the country's institutions, the ruling party can, as it has done before, enact any law and amend the Constitution to remove all obstacles to its rule.
This development is a break from the practice of the previous Parliament, in which the opposition Sam Rainsy Party had 24 seats and an important role as chair of two out of nine parliamentary committees. The new situation is not conducive to the development of the liberal democracy Cambodia has embraced in its Constitution.
With the absence of an opposition role, the new Parliament cannot be seen as representing the entire nation, only the majority of its citizens who voted for the Cambodian People's Party. This Parliament will lose its status and role as one of the three branches of government.
Checks and balances between these three branches and the separation of powers will completely disappear. Cambodia will then become practically a one-party state, a development which is not friendly to democracy, the rule of law and human rights.
In order to avoid all these negative developments, Cambodia's new Parliament should continue the practice of its predecessor. In order to represent the entire nation it must allow the opposition parties to be an integral part of the Parliament and assume the chairmanship of some of its nine committees, so the opposition can play an active role in the governance of the nation.
--
(Lao Mong Hay is a senior researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. He was previously director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and a visiting professor at the University of Toronto in 2003. In 1997, he received an award from Human Rights Watch and the Nansen Medal in 2000 from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.)
5 comments:
PM hun Sen will surely continue to press ahead for swear in new members of MPs regardless any Khmer political scholars or/and analysts as well opposition. Historically, PM Hun Sen will bow to only pressure of international community. Without this pressure, Do Not expect. SRP and HRP will have to come to choose either to join the MPs new team or
Fight to the end it means that whetrher the opposition parties are willing to stand firms and see if their MPs seats will be divided to share with other parties as PM said. PM will stand to gain from this with a short term only but will surely reverse his action in long term. believe or not you will see. PM has already raised his options with his advisors, the majority of them have believed that SRP and HRP can't stand to lose their seats because their memebers need those seats for personal gain as well as their work. However, they have come to conclude that if SRP and HRP are able to stand firm, PM have no choice but to concede to meet some of opposition ddemands within 1 year max until 08/24/09.
Some Cambodian Ambassadors around the world, especially China, Japan, France, Germany, Australia, and USA have been quietly asked to test those governments reaction if PM's paln is put in place.
Thank you very much Mr. Loa Mong Hay.
Everything you said is truth.
Alex
Sunland, California, USA.
Cambodia General Election for 2008: the real winner
Is Mr. Sam Ransy.
Hun Sen is the looser, the thief, the stealer, and the robber.
You are garbage prime minister.
Need nationwide re-vote!
Need nationwide re-vote!
Revot is impossible, due mainly to the political control by the CPP, and the financial availability, the election spending was partly supported by international community. If CPP do not agree to spend their money and the goverment coffer is not vailable and the international community is not willing to pay any more, then the money for the reelection will be casted onto the opposition party, and is never something happen.
CPP will push ahead the parliamentary swone in, because it thinks that opposition parties's rejection is just a show for their constituens, and it might be true.
A landslide victory is not a good news actually. If a power is growing too quickly, a chaos will be expected to occur within their administration, CPP is united just because it can define a targeted enemies or threat which is a major drive within the party's unification in a common goal of overcoming the threat and battling enemies. Howver, when the it becomes overwhelmingly stronger and the external threats are diminished, the new threats will automatically arise from the party's internal jealousy and other anachy of administration.
Boycott is not a perfect way to have a balance in the parliament, but at the moment it is the only way to go.
The point is that how long does Mr Rainsy can stand for, a peaceful way of battle will need to take long time to see the satifactory outcomes.
You are very wise and intelligence Khmer, Dr. Lao Mong Hay.
Our country need a lot of people like you and Lawyer Bora Touch.
Australia
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