The Dark Magic of the NEC/CPP

Theary C. Seng with Princess Soma Norodom at the VIP Airport awaiting the return of Sam Rainsy on Friday, 19 July 2013

The Dark Magic of the NEC/CPP

Theary C. Seng, 28 July 2013

By every indication (save those of the ruling Cambodian People's Party), the democratic opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party won the parliamentary elections with 123 seats at stake.  

Unofficial results of monitors (of the opposition CNRP and of national/international observers) streamed in shortly after 3 p.m. when the polling stations closed across the country with 9.6 million registered voters (but 1-3 million highly contested due to problems with voter registration) indicating that the CNRP won in all the major towns and cities, including the capital Phnom Penh.  

I have trained political party agents and monitored the national elections here officially and unofficially.  (I've also been invited as international observers for the Bangladesh elections.) So, I do know the inner workings of monitoring and its detailed and serious preparation, with the data to be trusted.

The democracy CNRP president Sam Rainsy at around 8 p.m. even came out with an official statement in Khmer claiming election victory and requesting all the voters to stay calm and peaceful.  Hearing the official statement by Sam Rainsy, a friend, stunned me and everyone else who read it, but not surprising as we knew the country voted CNRP.

But hearing it, after fighting for democracy on the ground since 1995, I was stunned and emotional.  Streams of tears flowed.

A few minutes later, I received unofficial information from the CPP that at 8:30 p.m., it will broadcast its victory on the national TVK of the preliminary results of 70-50 (which I posted incorrectly at 70-30 on Facebook).  

And a few minutes later after that, Khieu Kanharith, the Minister of Information and spokesperson for the ruling CPP posted on his Facebook a victory for the CPP at 68 seats for the CPP and 55 seats for the CNRP in the National Assembly.

I was again stunned AND OUTRAGED.  PRIOR to today's voting day, the CPP has already stolen 25% of the votes via highly problematic voter registration process and list.  

And now, AFTER the voting day, when every trustworthy indication shown victory for the democracy CNRP, the CPP has the audacity to claim victory at the incredible margin of 68-55 seats.  (Sure, the gains for the opposition democracy forces are also great, but that's a separate issue.)

I called this "NEC/CPP dark magic".  And here's a real-life illustration of how it works.  In the 2008 national elections, Gen. Nhek Bunchhay ran as a royalist Funcincpec candidate and lost in the province of Banteay Meanchey at the first instance of counting with all the monitors there immediately after voting on election day.  But the ruling CPP needed him to win as he individually and his royalist party Funcinpec -- for their pliancy -- were needed by the CPP to form a coalition government.  So, the day after voting, the National Election Committee announced that in fact Nhek Bunchhay won a parliamentary seat after it (NEC) recounted the votes (on its own in the dark).

Earlier this afternoon, security blockades cordoned off the Prime Minister's residence in a very, very WIDE encirclement.  And there are reports and images of tanks and military build-up with great assistance from Vietnam, this ruling CPP's patron (Hun Sen and his ruling cohorts were propped by Vietnam after it invaded Cambodia in 1979).

- Theary C. Seng, 10 p.m. 28 July 2013

Our crowds of supporters keep getting bigger. Something momentous is going to happen on Sunday. Back in Phnom Penh for the final day of campaigning, Jully 26. - សម រង្ស៊ី / Sam Rainsy | www.facebook.com/rainsy.sam.5

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