HONG KONG, Oct. 31By LAO MONG HAY
Posted on UPI Asia Online
Column: Rule by Fear
Cambodia is currently making preparations for the election of members of parliament to be held in July next year, making it the third, after the one organized by the United Nations in 1993. It has now proceeded to update the electoral rolls. Over a thousand national and international observers have registered to observe the polls and the Cambodian government is seeking financial support from the international community for this up-coming election.
Under Cambodian law, members of parliament are elected by universal, equal, free, direct suffrage and by secret ballot under the system of party-list proportional representation. The task of organizing elections is entrusted to the National Election Committee which is supposed to be independent, neutral and impartial.
However, what has escaped the observation radar is that this committee, the whole electoral process and factors influencing the election outcome are very much under the control of the ruling party, the former communist Cambodian People's party.
The committee is composed of nine political appointees, five of whom come from the ruling party. On top of organizing the election, the committee serves also as a tribunal to adjudicate conflicts arising from electoral fraud or irregularities. In the adjudication of conflicts it is judge and party at the same time.
Parties to electoral litigations can appeal the committee's judgments to the Constitutional Council which serves as the court of final appeal for such litigations. This council is composed of political appointees whose majority comes from the ruling party as well.
The ruling party has the control of the majority, if not all, of the staffs who run the electoral process, when those staffs, from the head-office, to the provincial election committees and down to the commune election committees, are recruited among working or retired officials and teachers whose overwhelming majority are actual members or sympathizers of the ruling party.
As a legacy of the communist days of the 1980s, Cambodian civilian administration and security forces are not politically neutral. The ruling party has complete control over all level of civilian administration and the security forces from the national level to the grassroots levels, through party membership of a great number of officials of that administration, and members of those forces. Its trusted members occupy all positions of responsibility up and down the hierarchy. These members are party activists and run party cells in their respective jurisdictions. They and their party cells are very active during the electoral period.
The control of the ruling party is extended to almost all the media. All TV channels are run by the government or by supporters of the ruling party. Among the many radio stations, there is only one with a small coverage area which is or allowed to be independent from the government. The newspapers with big circulations are run by members or supporters of the ruling party.
Populism and vote-buying, through construction of community projects, organization of or contribution to religious ceremonies, distribution of humanitarian relief or outright offer of free gifts, are the practices of political parties to woo the electorate.
In this regard, the ruling party has a lot advantages over its rival parties, when it has an overwhelming command over resources for the purposes. No political party can rival it in this respect.
Since it is running the government and controls all the government and administrative machinery and security forces, the ruling party can use and is using resources and services of the public sector at its disposal for its populism and vote-buying, under the guise of delivering public services, discharge of government duties, or the government's social and economic projects.
The ruling party also has the support of the business community whose many leaders are its members or supporters. A number of these business leaders have served as senators or advisors to leaders of the ruling party. Businesses need the government, which is the ruling party, for their trade, especially to secure concessionary terms for their licenses, other transactions, and protection for indulging in improper activities such as the on-going land grabbing.
The ruling party can secure resources through contributions from its members whom they have appointed to positions of responsibility when such positions are commonly known as "lucrative positions".
The largesse of the ruling party mostly goes to its members, supporters and other voters it can influence. At times to ensure that its largesse is translated into votes, recipients are made to swear loyalty to and vote for the ruling party. There are also threats of retribution if they fail to support the ruling party.
Local authorities, including the police, whose majority members belong to the ruling party, can identify the party allegiance of voters. They also keep surveillance on the activities of rival party activists in their localities. In hotly contested localities, supporters of rival parties experience difficulty having access to public services.
The ruling party's largesse has no bounds when the electoral law imposes no limit to election campaign finance. In parallel with this largesse, rival parties have meager resources for elections. Furthermore, at times, their officials and activists are not allowed freedom to do their party work. Many of them face threats, intimidation and even assassination, and are prevented from doing their party work. Many times, public authorities under the control of the ruling party do not act upon complaints from them as diligently as those coming from officials of the ruling party.
Can the mechanism and process that is extensively controlled by one party ensure a free and fair election?
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(Lao Mong Hay is currently 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.)
Under Cambodian law, members of parliament are elected by universal, equal, free, direct suffrage and by secret ballot under the system of party-list proportional representation. The task of organizing elections is entrusted to the National Election Committee which is supposed to be independent, neutral and impartial.
However, what has escaped the observation radar is that this committee, the whole electoral process and factors influencing the election outcome are very much under the control of the ruling party, the former communist Cambodian People's party.
The committee is composed of nine political appointees, five of whom come from the ruling party. On top of organizing the election, the committee serves also as a tribunal to adjudicate conflicts arising from electoral fraud or irregularities. In the adjudication of conflicts it is judge and party at the same time.
Parties to electoral litigations can appeal the committee's judgments to the Constitutional Council which serves as the court of final appeal for such litigations. This council is composed of political appointees whose majority comes from the ruling party as well.
The ruling party has the control of the majority, if not all, of the staffs who run the electoral process, when those staffs, from the head-office, to the provincial election committees and down to the commune election committees, are recruited among working or retired officials and teachers whose overwhelming majority are actual members or sympathizers of the ruling party.
As a legacy of the communist days of the 1980s, Cambodian civilian administration and security forces are not politically neutral. The ruling party has complete control over all level of civilian administration and the security forces from the national level to the grassroots levels, through party membership of a great number of officials of that administration, and members of those forces. Its trusted members occupy all positions of responsibility up and down the hierarchy. These members are party activists and run party cells in their respective jurisdictions. They and their party cells are very active during the electoral period.
The control of the ruling party is extended to almost all the media. All TV channels are run by the government or by supporters of the ruling party. Among the many radio stations, there is only one with a small coverage area which is or allowed to be independent from the government. The newspapers with big circulations are run by members or supporters of the ruling party.
Populism and vote-buying, through construction of community projects, organization of or contribution to religious ceremonies, distribution of humanitarian relief or outright offer of free gifts, are the practices of political parties to woo the electorate.
In this regard, the ruling party has a lot advantages over its rival parties, when it has an overwhelming command over resources for the purposes. No political party can rival it in this respect.
Since it is running the government and controls all the government and administrative machinery and security forces, the ruling party can use and is using resources and services of the public sector at its disposal for its populism and vote-buying, under the guise of delivering public services, discharge of government duties, or the government's social and economic projects.
The ruling party also has the support of the business community whose many leaders are its members or supporters. A number of these business leaders have served as senators or advisors to leaders of the ruling party. Businesses need the government, which is the ruling party, for their trade, especially to secure concessionary terms for their licenses, other transactions, and protection for indulging in improper activities such as the on-going land grabbing.
The ruling party can secure resources through contributions from its members whom they have appointed to positions of responsibility when such positions are commonly known as "lucrative positions".
The largesse of the ruling party mostly goes to its members, supporters and other voters it can influence. At times to ensure that its largesse is translated into votes, recipients are made to swear loyalty to and vote for the ruling party. There are also threats of retribution if they fail to support the ruling party.
Local authorities, including the police, whose majority members belong to the ruling party, can identify the party allegiance of voters. They also keep surveillance on the activities of rival party activists in their localities. In hotly contested localities, supporters of rival parties experience difficulty having access to public services.
The ruling party's largesse has no bounds when the electoral law imposes no limit to election campaign finance. In parallel with this largesse, rival parties have meager resources for elections. Furthermore, at times, their officials and activists are not allowed freedom to do their party work. Many of them face threats, intimidation and even assassination, and are prevented from doing their party work. Many times, public authorities under the control of the ruling party do not act upon complaints from them as diligently as those coming from officials of the ruling party.
Can the mechanism and process that is extensively controlled by one party ensure a free and fair election?
--
(Lao Mong Hay is currently 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.)
