Kem Sokha (L), Sam Rainsy (C) and Mu Sochua (R) (Photo: Ung Chamroeun, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)August 27, 2008
His Excellency Mr. Sulilo Bambang Yudhoyono
President of Indonesia
Jakarta
Indonesia
By kindness of
Mr. Eko Indiarto
Chargé d'Affaires a.i.
Indonesia Embassy
1, Street 466
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Mr. President Yudhoyono,
As presidents of Cambodia's second and third largest political parties which should form the parliamentary opposition in the new legislature (2008-2013), following the July 27 election, we are taking the liberty of writing to you, especially because Indonesia was co-president, with France, of the Paris International Conference on Cambodia, which led to the signing of the Paris Peace Agreements of October 23, 1991.
We wish to bring to your attention the extent to which political developments in Cambodia have departed dangerously from the path laid out in the Paris Agreements.
In general terms, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Human Rights in Cambodia, Mr. Yash Ghai, accurately described the situation by underscoring that “The use of systemic human rights violations has been a rational choice for those who hold power in Cambodia, and who refuse to accept accountability vis-à-vis the law and the people of Cambodia.” (Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia , Yash Ghai, UN Doc. A/HRC/4/36, 30 January 2007 , para. 93.). He further underlines that “The above analysis shows that laws, institutions, procedures critical to the rule of law are very little respected in Cambodia - especially by the State.” ( Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai, UN Doc. A/HCR/7/42, 29 February 2008 , para. 52). On 19 March 2008 , Mr. Yash Ghai, speaking in Geneva about the Cambodian elections, which were a little over four months away, doubts it was possible to hold “free and fair” elections as long as “serious obstacles [remain] to achieving the goal of political pluralism through elections.” For Mr. Ghai, some of these obstacles are “irregularities in the administration of elections that favoured the ruling party.”
Regular reporting by Mr. Yash Ghai and his predecessors has made it very clear that ever since the truly democratic elections organized by the UN in 1993 pursuant to the Paris Agreements, all that is left of the democracy put in place in Cambodia , at great costs to the international community, is a cracking façade.
Since the 1993 elections, each election has been more and more manipulated by the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), in power since 1979, resulting in an ever more perverted democracy, as recognized by all independent national and international organizations.
Predictably, the elections of last July 27 were dubious at best, as recognized by the European Union Observation Mission in its July 29 statement which points that “2008 National Assembly Elections have fallen short of a number of key international standards for democratic elections.” (The European Union Election Observation Mission, Preliminary Statement, Cambodian elections 2008 show some progress but still fall short of key international standards, 29 July 2008 , Phnom Penh .)
Every day brings more proof of electoral fraud of national scale. We would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the long-term observers of the European Union, some of whom are still in Cambodia today to follow up with progress and the handling of electoral complaints. Electoral experts of the UN Development Program (UNDP) who are in Cambodia , are also in a position to provide an accurate evaluation of the whole electoral process which spreads out over more than two years. They were the only ones to witness all aspects of fraud which took place at all stages of the electoral process, beginning with the manipulation of the voter list as early as 2006-2007.
Even though the 2008 elections were less marred by violence than previous elections and hence "show some progress", fraud this year took on a more sophisticated or more subtle form and was conducted on a much wider scale. Under the pretext of “cleaning up” voter lists, the National Election Committee (NEC), which is controlled by the CPP, deliberately did the opposite of what it should have done: the NEC deleted names that should have remained on the lists and kept names that should have been deleted. The NEC deleted hundreds of thousands of names of bona fide voters, known to be unfavorable to the CPP, and kept hundreds of thousands of names of ghost voters in order to build up a reserve of fraudulent votes for the CPP. The outcome was that hundreds of thousands of persons without the right to vote (citizens not registered on the lists of the residential commune, or underage, or foreigners) were able to vote by using forged documents which were methodically provided to them by local authorities controlled by the CPP by using names of these ghost voters. The NEC has in fact killed three birds with one stone: it has succeeded in cleverly reducing the opposition's votes to a large extent, fraudulently inflated the CPP's votes to the same extent, and maintained a decent rate of "voter" turnout.
We have gathered an increasing amount of evidence of such manipulation of electoral lists, which we have published on our website http://tinyurl.com/4eegak . The evidence presented is largely what short-term and inexperienced observers could not see in a sophistically rigged election.
This systematic and massive electoral fraud seriously discredits the results of the July 27, 2008 election, giving a "landslide victory" to the CPP, recently proclaimed by the NEC but not really reflecting the will of the Cambodian people. This type of fake election is in violation of the Paris Agreements which call for Cambodia “to provide for periodic and genuine elections” as well as "the right to vote and to be elected by universal and equal suffrage." The Agreements also call for Cambodia to ensure that "electoral procedures provide a full and fair opportunity" for all citizens to "participate in the electoral process." ( Paris Agreements, Annex 5).
We deplore that election procedures established and implemented by the NEC did not provide a "full and fair opportunity to participate in the electoral process" and that a significant portion of the
electorate was denied "the right to vote by universal and equal suffrage." In short, the 2008 election was not "genuine" and is not in line with the spirit and the letter of the Paris Agreements.
Because we want to remain true to the principles of popular sovereignty and political honesty, we have made it known that, so long as our electoral complaints are not reasonably resolved, we will not take part in the swearing-in ceremony scheduled for September 24 by the CPP. This ceremony would normally be presided over by His Majesty the King. In fact, we would not wish to find ourselves in such a solemn occasion, in the presence of at least fifteen MPs elect from the CPP whom we and many independent observers consider as unfairly and fraudulently elected.
An acceptable resolution of a number of our electoral complaints should be through the holding of a re-vote or, at least, a vote recount in a limited number of constituencies (provinces or municipalities) where the opposition has come very close to winning an additional parliamentary seat according to figures provided by the NEC. However, the NEC, which is both judge and judged, has rejected practically all our complaints. Even the most important ones were only “examined” behind closed doors and very quickly dismissed as “groundless”. As of today, the NEC has not allowed a single vote recount, let alone a re-vote, even when first reports of ballot counting from a given polling station conflict with each other and some of these reports seem to have been doctored. When the opposition submits a complaint with some evidence raising some doubt, why doesn't the NEC accept to jointly with the plaintiffs recount the ballots from any given ballot box from any given polling station so as to dissipate any doubt? Are they afraid that a vote recount even for a single ballot box from a single polling station – there are 15, 254 polling stations nationwide – could reveal anomalies/ irregularities that could be indicative of broader fraud commune-wide, province-wide and nationwide? The Constitutional Council, which is another CPP-controlled institution acting as a kind of Supreme Court, has so far upheld all the NEC's decisions to dismiss the opposition's complaints. There is apparently no other reasons for the two institutions for not allowing any vote recount than the fear to see the CPP's "landslide victory" evaporate following proper verifications.
The CPP has made it publicly known that if we did not participate in the above-mentioned swearing-in ceremony, on the set day, it would deprive us of our 29 parliamentary seats and would redistribute them to the CPP, which has already "won" 90 seats (out of 123 seats), and to two small CPP- satellite parties which have already obtained two seats each. If the CPP were to effectively act on its threat, there would no longer be any parliamentary opposition in our country, which would further and in a serious manner contradict the Paris Agreements which require Cambodia to “follow a system of liberal democracy, on the basis of pluralism.” (Annex 5).
In conclusion, we wish to reiterate our most profound gratitude to the people and the government of Indonesia for their continued and vigilant support for the cause of liberty, human rights and democracy in Cambodia . The Cambodian people do look up to Indonesia as a model of democracy in South-East Asia , especially under the leadership of her current President.
Respectfully yours,
Sam Rainsy
President of the Sam Rainsy Party
MP elect following the July 27, 2008 election
Kem Sokha
President of the Human Rights Party
MP elect following the July 27, 2008 election
President of Indonesia
Jakarta
Indonesia
By kindness of
Mr. Eko Indiarto
Chargé d'Affaires a.i.
Indonesia Embassy
1, Street 466
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Mr. President Yudhoyono,
As presidents of Cambodia's second and third largest political parties which should form the parliamentary opposition in the new legislature (2008-2013), following the July 27 election, we are taking the liberty of writing to you, especially because Indonesia was co-president, with France, of the Paris International Conference on Cambodia, which led to the signing of the Paris Peace Agreements of October 23, 1991.
We wish to bring to your attention the extent to which political developments in Cambodia have departed dangerously from the path laid out in the Paris Agreements.
In general terms, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Human Rights in Cambodia, Mr. Yash Ghai, accurately described the situation by underscoring that “The use of systemic human rights violations has been a rational choice for those who hold power in Cambodia, and who refuse to accept accountability vis-à-vis the law and the people of Cambodia.” (Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia , Yash Ghai, UN Doc. A/HRC/4/36, 30 January 2007 , para. 93.). He further underlines that “The above analysis shows that laws, institutions, procedures critical to the rule of law are very little respected in Cambodia - especially by the State.” ( Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai, UN Doc. A/HCR/7/42, 29 February 2008 , para. 52). On 19 March 2008 , Mr. Yash Ghai, speaking in Geneva about the Cambodian elections, which were a little over four months away, doubts it was possible to hold “free and fair” elections as long as “serious obstacles [remain] to achieving the goal of political pluralism through elections.” For Mr. Ghai, some of these obstacles are “irregularities in the administration of elections that favoured the ruling party.”
Regular reporting by Mr. Yash Ghai and his predecessors has made it very clear that ever since the truly democratic elections organized by the UN in 1993 pursuant to the Paris Agreements, all that is left of the democracy put in place in Cambodia , at great costs to the international community, is a cracking façade.
Since the 1993 elections, each election has been more and more manipulated by the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), in power since 1979, resulting in an ever more perverted democracy, as recognized by all independent national and international organizations.
Predictably, the elections of last July 27 were dubious at best, as recognized by the European Union Observation Mission in its July 29 statement which points that “2008 National Assembly Elections have fallen short of a number of key international standards for democratic elections.” (The European Union Election Observation Mission, Preliminary Statement, Cambodian elections 2008 show some progress but still fall short of key international standards, 29 July 2008 , Phnom Penh .)
Every day brings more proof of electoral fraud of national scale. We would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the long-term observers of the European Union, some of whom are still in Cambodia today to follow up with progress and the handling of electoral complaints. Electoral experts of the UN Development Program (UNDP) who are in Cambodia , are also in a position to provide an accurate evaluation of the whole electoral process which spreads out over more than two years. They were the only ones to witness all aspects of fraud which took place at all stages of the electoral process, beginning with the manipulation of the voter list as early as 2006-2007.
Even though the 2008 elections were less marred by violence than previous elections and hence "show some progress", fraud this year took on a more sophisticated or more subtle form and was conducted on a much wider scale. Under the pretext of “cleaning up” voter lists, the National Election Committee (NEC), which is controlled by the CPP, deliberately did the opposite of what it should have done: the NEC deleted names that should have remained on the lists and kept names that should have been deleted. The NEC deleted hundreds of thousands of names of bona fide voters, known to be unfavorable to the CPP, and kept hundreds of thousands of names of ghost voters in order to build up a reserve of fraudulent votes for the CPP. The outcome was that hundreds of thousands of persons without the right to vote (citizens not registered on the lists of the residential commune, or underage, or foreigners) were able to vote by using forged documents which were methodically provided to them by local authorities controlled by the CPP by using names of these ghost voters. The NEC has in fact killed three birds with one stone: it has succeeded in cleverly reducing the opposition's votes to a large extent, fraudulently inflated the CPP's votes to the same extent, and maintained a decent rate of "voter" turnout.
We have gathered an increasing amount of evidence of such manipulation of electoral lists, which we have published on our website http://tinyurl.com/4eegak . The evidence presented is largely what short-term and inexperienced observers could not see in a sophistically rigged election.
This systematic and massive electoral fraud seriously discredits the results of the July 27, 2008 election, giving a "landslide victory" to the CPP, recently proclaimed by the NEC but not really reflecting the will of the Cambodian people. This type of fake election is in violation of the Paris Agreements which call for Cambodia “to provide for periodic and genuine elections” as well as "the right to vote and to be elected by universal and equal suffrage." The Agreements also call for Cambodia to ensure that "electoral procedures provide a full and fair opportunity" for all citizens to "participate in the electoral process." ( Paris Agreements, Annex 5).
We deplore that election procedures established and implemented by the NEC did not provide a "full and fair opportunity to participate in the electoral process" and that a significant portion of the
electorate was denied "the right to vote by universal and equal suffrage." In short, the 2008 election was not "genuine" and is not in line with the spirit and the letter of the Paris Agreements.
Because we want to remain true to the principles of popular sovereignty and political honesty, we have made it known that, so long as our electoral complaints are not reasonably resolved, we will not take part in the swearing-in ceremony scheduled for September 24 by the CPP. This ceremony would normally be presided over by His Majesty the King. In fact, we would not wish to find ourselves in such a solemn occasion, in the presence of at least fifteen MPs elect from the CPP whom we and many independent observers consider as unfairly and fraudulently elected.
An acceptable resolution of a number of our electoral complaints should be through the holding of a re-vote or, at least, a vote recount in a limited number of constituencies (provinces or municipalities) where the opposition has come very close to winning an additional parliamentary seat according to figures provided by the NEC. However, the NEC, which is both judge and judged, has rejected practically all our complaints. Even the most important ones were only “examined” behind closed doors and very quickly dismissed as “groundless”. As of today, the NEC has not allowed a single vote recount, let alone a re-vote, even when first reports of ballot counting from a given polling station conflict with each other and some of these reports seem to have been doctored. When the opposition submits a complaint with some evidence raising some doubt, why doesn't the NEC accept to jointly with the plaintiffs recount the ballots from any given ballot box from any given polling station so as to dissipate any doubt? Are they afraid that a vote recount even for a single ballot box from a single polling station – there are 15, 254 polling stations nationwide – could reveal anomalies/ irregularities that could be indicative of broader fraud commune-wide, province-wide and nationwide? The Constitutional Council, which is another CPP-controlled institution acting as a kind of Supreme Court, has so far upheld all the NEC's decisions to dismiss the opposition's complaints. There is apparently no other reasons for the two institutions for not allowing any vote recount than the fear to see the CPP's "landslide victory" evaporate following proper verifications.
The CPP has made it publicly known that if we did not participate in the above-mentioned swearing-in ceremony, on the set day, it would deprive us of our 29 parliamentary seats and would redistribute them to the CPP, which has already "won" 90 seats (out of 123 seats), and to two small CPP- satellite parties which have already obtained two seats each. If the CPP were to effectively act on its threat, there would no longer be any parliamentary opposition in our country, which would further and in a serious manner contradict the Paris Agreements which require Cambodia to “follow a system of liberal democracy, on the basis of pluralism.” (Annex 5).
In conclusion, we wish to reiterate our most profound gratitude to the people and the government of Indonesia for their continued and vigilant support for the cause of liberty, human rights and democracy in Cambodia . The Cambodian people do look up to Indonesia as a model of democracy in South-East Asia , especially under the leadership of her current President.
Respectfully yours,
Sam Rainsy
President of the Sam Rainsy Party
MP elect following the July 27, 2008 election
Kem Sokha
President of the Human Rights Party
MP elect following the July 27, 2008 election
16 comments:
After more than ten years than sam rainsy does the politics in camdodia, we see that he still understood nothing in the politics in our country.
He always behaves as a beginner in politics.
The agreements of Paris is now the simple scrap of paper which we give to study to the students in politics in the practical works.
The only good thing which remains to do for sam rainsy and for the democratic opposition to the country after this scathing electoral defeat is the sam rainsy’s resignation!
Go Mr. Sam Ransy and Kem Sokha go get that animal Hun Sen and his gangster CPP out from Cambodia. Enough is enough every election they cheated all the times.
Cambodia is lawless country the judge are the crooks, ah Hun Sen control everything.
No democracy in Cambodia.
well, someone got to be a disciplinarian, however, know what you are doing before jumping into something blindly, though! god bless cambodia.
1:02am WHY YOU SO STUPID? WHAT Paris agreements is for is to teach the baboon like you or your father to live as human! know how to obey law and respect others!
We people of Cambodia will not stop, forever, to teach stupid monkey like you to behave as human!
If your eye is blind do not have a brain blind stupid faked PHD!
3:44am
The agreements of Paris it is made for idiots as you.
Not for truth politicians kiki.
5:12am
Yes!
We are a stupid in politics if we respect the agreements and the treaties which we signed. It is an elementary lesson in politics!
Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha are such crazy guys.
king and some party were out of politic field ,remain ,somrainsy and soha to fight for khmer right ,if somrain+ sokha are out also .no name ,khmer they wil replace HUN AGNACHAK.
recently poor khmer eat rats as their meal
Congratulation!
Nice to see all of you are barking and fighting each other among Khamen.
Long Live Thailand!
Pichai.
Hmmm ah Siam don't come to bark here. Go back and prepare your strikefull country. You are the thief in the world everybody know you and will kill you soon.
Everybody that support a kwak hun sen, if you think that all of you do the right thing, why all of you fell afraid like a small baby dog un the tiger's hand like this? Just keep silent! Wait and see H.E Sam Rainsy and Mr. Kim Sokha solve the problem. UN and EU will help us. French treaty is very important for us to send all CPP supporter ti jail. Don forget to say good bye to all your family members.
I know that Cambodia is lead by 3 monkeys...
But the parties that supposed to be democratic make their supporters look : stupid.
Why don't they do a joint alliance
before the election ?
Now they work together!!
How pathetic it is. Is it tricky???
Khmer Canadian
I think Sam Rainsy and Ken Sokha better have to do since the first time when Lok Sourn Serey Ratha and his colleagues association and organization did.
Why Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha still arrogant and do ignored Lok Sourn Serey Ratha's job. The UCAOA had ready been done so far and push so long, but both of them just wake up. Are they really politicians or just fake, if so I recoment to invite Lok Sourn Serey Ratha go to teach them on how to act Politics in Cambodia.
8:00 AM
Idiot disguises Thai.
Phichai not Pichai
Of course SRP and HRP have not put high expectation to the positive responding of major absolute parliamentary government of Hun Sen.
But to recall Paris Peace Agreement is to light a flame of awareness. It can draw the attention of half Cambodian peoples to against with Hun Sen's leadership.
Otherwise, the policy of SRP and HRP should loudly utter during election campaign the importance of Paris Agreement.
Minor and weak opposition democratic coalition parties, SRP & HRP, effort to draw attention of Cambodian peoples to see the authoritarianism in Cambodia is becoming drifted. So Cambodian peoples have to join with the democratic bloc for the brighter future.
KY
http://khmeryoung.blogspot.com
Hello to Cambodian related issues!
It's good to exchange idea on line
and express idea for both bad and good!
If you're not Cambodian shut the fuck up!
you know nothing about Cambodia!
Long live the Cambodia !
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