2008-08-01
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodian elections were the freest ever held in the Southeast Asian country, the United States said Friday, though it concluded media coverage of the campaign was biased toward the ruling party.
The upbeat assessment of Sunday's election in which Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party won a landslide victory comes as the opposition is refusing to recognize the results. It claims there was widespread irregularities.
«Cambodia's National Assembly election was freer than any election previously held in the country and the vast majority of Cambodia's registered voters were able to express their will in a more open atmosphere than before,» the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
Voting irregularities «were relatively low in number and they do not appear to have affected the outcome or to have distorted the will of the Cambodian people,» the statement said.
Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won 90 seats in the 123-seat National Assembly, or lower house of parliament. The opposition Sam Rainsy Party won 26 seats, according to unofficial results.
The opposition party has rejected the results, accusing the National Election Committee of acting as a tool to help Hun Sen win.
It cited the committees alleged removal of tens of thousands of legitimate voters from electoral lists to prevent them from casting ballots for parties other than the ruling one. The election committee has dismissed the allegations.
Sunday's voting was the fourth parliamentary election since the United Nations brokered a peace deal for the country in 1991, a process meant to end decades of civil unrest that included the 1975-79 genocidal reign of the Khmer Rouge.
Some 8.1 million Cambodians were registered voters, but the electoral body has not yet declared how many of them were able to cast their ballots.
While praising the ability of Cambodians to vote, the embassy concluded the atmosphere leading up to the vote was biased toward the ruling party.
Although the opposition had better access to state-run television during the campaigning than in the past, the CPP still dominated the airwaves of private stations that traditionally support it, the embassy said.
This «reflects a virtual monopoly by the CPP on the media and imbalanced the desired level playing field for contesting the elections,» it said.
On Tuesday, Martin Callanan, the head of an EU election monitoring team, gave a similar assessment of biases for the ruling party during the campaign.
But he said alleged vote irregularities would have to be on a very large scale to invalidate the outcome since Hun Sen's party won with «a very large majority.
The upbeat assessment of Sunday's election in which Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party won a landslide victory comes as the opposition is refusing to recognize the results. It claims there was widespread irregularities.
«Cambodia's National Assembly election was freer than any election previously held in the country and the vast majority of Cambodia's registered voters were able to express their will in a more open atmosphere than before,» the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
Voting irregularities «were relatively low in number and they do not appear to have affected the outcome or to have distorted the will of the Cambodian people,» the statement said.
Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won 90 seats in the 123-seat National Assembly, or lower house of parliament. The opposition Sam Rainsy Party won 26 seats, according to unofficial results.
The opposition party has rejected the results, accusing the National Election Committee of acting as a tool to help Hun Sen win.
It cited the committees alleged removal of tens of thousands of legitimate voters from electoral lists to prevent them from casting ballots for parties other than the ruling one. The election committee has dismissed the allegations.
Sunday's voting was the fourth parliamentary election since the United Nations brokered a peace deal for the country in 1991, a process meant to end decades of civil unrest that included the 1975-79 genocidal reign of the Khmer Rouge.
Some 8.1 million Cambodians were registered voters, but the electoral body has not yet declared how many of them were able to cast their ballots.
While praising the ability of Cambodians to vote, the embassy concluded the atmosphere leading up to the vote was biased toward the ruling party.
Although the opposition had better access to state-run television during the campaigning than in the past, the CPP still dominated the airwaves of private stations that traditionally support it, the embassy said.
This «reflects a virtual monopoly by the CPP on the media and imbalanced the desired level playing field for contesting the elections,» it said.
On Tuesday, Martin Callanan, the head of an EU election monitoring team, gave a similar assessment of biases for the ruling party during the campaign.
But he said alleged vote irregularities would have to be on a very large scale to invalidate the outcome since Hun Sen's party won with «a very large majority.
3 comments:
The US and The EU just sent their monitors to act as the scapegoat for Cambodian people. They try to show the world that they care about democracy, but they close their eyes and support the strong man, Hun Sen. I told you we need the civil war in Cambodia to topple this regime and to teach American and the EU about the revolution. They don't give a shit to Cambodia. It's time to use force with people power. If we topple the regime, American will turn to support the next government. They support whoever is strong in the government for their own interest. The US starts the war in Iraq for their oil interest. Cambodia has oil now so American supports the dictatorship. In Burma case, American don't give a damb about the Burmese because no value for them.
Let's see how long will Hun Sen last? Khmer need to use force not negotiation. Khmer rouge need to stand up again to overthrow Hun Sen.
This is just Cambodian opion.
Phnom-Penh Law Student
Hun SengSoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYCW_-ujXQU
Hun SengSoy
These Western countries are hypocrites. They don't care about our democracy. Remember during the rein of terror during Khmer Rouge era in which hundreds of thounsands Cambodian were massacred, where were the Western countries, and why these countries are in our country now? Also, where were they when we needed them the most?
The bottom line is if the US or EU did give a damn during the Khmer Rouge, most like they won't give a damn about the UN-backed democracy as long as they have their interests secured. Now, you know why these Western countries are so hypocrite.
My assertion of them might be too draconian, but I want these son-of-bitches listen and learn and care (not just their interests).
Cambodian farmer
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