Farmers fear deal has strings

Villagers from Kampong Chhnang’s Lorpeang Village, pictured last year, have recently been granted permission to farm land that has been disputed since 2007 with the KDC company. Photograph: Derek Stout/Phnom Penh Post

CPP Land Thief Chea Kheng, the wife of CPP minister Suy Sem (Photo:Mondulkeo, RFA)

Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

Forty Kampong Chhnang villagers embroiled in a long-running land dispute with KDC International, a company owned by the wife of a senior CPP official, farmed contested land without interference on Monday, prompting some to wonder if they were being coaxed to vote for the ruling party in the coming commune elections.

Villagers were confused as to why no one barred them from the land, which is claimed by KDC and its owner Chea Kheng, wife of CPP-affiliated Industry, Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem.

However, village representative Reach Seima suspects the new accommodation is simply because “it’s time to vote”.

“When we entered, the guard told us to bring more villagers to [farm] on this land,” he said. “We wondered is that a trick of the company? [The CPP] are good to us because they don’t want to lose votes.”

SRP alleges misconduct

Monday, 05 March 2012
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party members have accused ruling Cambodian People’s Party officials of trying to steal the opposition party’s list of candidates for the upcoming commune elections and offering a US$5,000 bounty to any SRP member that delivers, SRP party officials said last week.

“It is in Kandal province – where Prime Minister Hun Sen lives and votes – that the CPP is doing its utmost to hamper the SRP,” SRP lawmakers said in a statement released on Friday.

The SRP members claimed that a reward of up to $5,000 has been offered by CPP officials to any SRP member who could steal opposition lists of candidates and bring them to the CPP.

SRP Press Conference on Validity of Upcoming Elections

March 5, 2012

SRP PRESS CONFERENCE ON VALIDITY OF UPCOMING ELECTIONS

The following problems must be solved before the 2012 commune elections and the 2013 national elections. Otherwise, the international community must not recognize the results of these elections.

I- MANIPULATION OF VOTER LISTS

According to Comfrel there are 8.8 million voters only, but NEC stated 9.2 million (+ 0.4M):

-        Some real and legitimate voters are not registered (disenfranchisement): About 0.5M (*)

-        Many ghost voters are on the (inflated) voter lists: About 0.9M

-        Net overstatement: - 0.5M + 0.9M = + 0.4M

II- CONTROVERSIAL VOTING DOCUMENTS

Form 1018 will be abandoned and replaced with another voting document called “Likhet Bancheak Ataksanhan” (LBA). But there is the same potential fraud as with Form 1018 even though LBA cannot be copied and requires a stub (Kul Banchi). Continuous danger: LBA still issued by CPP commune chiefs (Mekhum) and CPP-affiliated Clerks (Smean). How CPP trick works: As with Form 1018, LBA will be used in combination with ghost voters’ names: Fraudulent voters will be given the names and voting rights of the above 0.9M ghost voters in order to inflate votes for CPP (**).

.

III- WITHHOLDING OF ID CARDS

The number of people without the standardized national ID Card is till high: more than 500,000. Many of them can be met everywhere complaining that they have been waiting in vain for two years to get their ID Cards. Comfrel estimates that 400,000 voters have been recently forced to use Form 1018 because they don’t have their ID Cards.

The danger of election manipulation is being compounded with the growing number of migrant workers: CPP commune chiefs know well who have migrated from their communes and they will use the absentees’ voting rights in favour of CPP by fraudulently giving LBAs (previously Forms 1018) to fraudulent voters to inflate CPP votes (**).

IV-FAIR ACCESS TO STATE-CONTROLLED BROADCAST MEDIAS

For the campaign for national/legislative elections, state-controlled broadcast medias are equally accessible to any political parties that have filed candidates in at least 1/3 of the country’s 24 provinces. What about the soon-to-start campaign for the commune elections with voting day on June 3, 2012? Will a party that has filed candidates in 100 % of Cambodia’s 1633 communes be treated the same way as a party that has filed ten or twenty times less candidates? The CPP tends to push for “equality” in order to reduce air time allocated to the opposition SRP, which would have to be equal to air time allocated to some much smaller parties that the CPP has helped to create.

V- NEUTRALITY OF THE NATIONAL ELECTION COMMITTEE (NEC)

The above points vindicate the Report issued after the 2008 national elections by the Election Observation Mission from the European Union. The Report notes in particular the "lack of confidence in the neutrality and impartiality of the National Election Committee (NEC)" and calls for a change in the composition and leadership of the NEC in order for Cambodia to meet “key international standards for democratic elections”.

Example: Case of O Saray commune in Takeo province’s Tram Kok district. A complaint was lodged last month by candidates from four different parties against the current president of the Commune Election Committee (CEC set up by NEC) who is a well-known CPP activist.

(*) The European observers already noted in 2008 "a significant number of mistakenly disenfranchised voters" due to the deletion of names from voter lists.
 

(**) The European observers already asked the government in 2008 to abolish the use of Statement of Identity Form 1018, which they claimed was fraudulently issued at polling stations.

Opposition Activist Fears Arrest Ahead of Election [-Who says the CPP is so sure about the election outcome?]

Sam Rainsy Party supports hold up the party flag, file photo

Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“My case involves politics, because the commune election is coming soon.”

An opposition party activist in Kandal province says the court there is trying to detain him ahead of local elections next year.

Meas Peng, a Sam Rainsy Party second deputy commune chief in Kien Svay district, is accused of initiating the destruction of private property in a land dispute in the province.

However, he said Tuesday he feared the courts were seeking to detain him to prevent him from contesting commune council elections next year.

“I am living in a safe area and am worried that the Kandal authorities will arrest me,” he said. “My case involves politics, because the commune election is coming soon.”

SRP MP Mu Sochua calls for "level playing field at all steps of the electoral process"

Moving towards local elections 2012

Another elections marred with intimidation, threats, and lack of political will for electoral reforms.

• Sam Rainsy, leader of the lead opposition party in exile;
• Party youths and officials are facing serious intimidation, threats and harassment in Cambodia;
• Ruling party using all state media and its own private TV and radio stations 24 hours/day;
• National Election Committee siding with party in power.

Election monitoring must take into consideration this abuse of power that begins as early as the registration period.

We call for level playing field at all steps of the electoral process.

Mu Sochua, MP

http://sochua.wordpress.com

“I do not fear death; I fear political silence against injustices”

-Malalai Joya, MP Afghanistan

Donate to Mu Sochua’s Justice Fund

CPP rejects information posted by KI-Media accusing it of communism [-The CPP bans KI-Media ... but yet, they follow closely information published by KI-Media???]

Unofficial translation from Khmer

Announcement

The [CPP] party’s committee for the ministry of Education, Youth and Sports has the honor to inform all news network that, following our reading of the article titled “The CPP is leading the country toward to communism” which was posted on the KI-Media website on 07 September 2011 and in the Phnom Penh Post on 07 September 2011, [this article] affects the honor and the rights to join politics by education employees in Cambodia, as well as by the CPP and this is contrary to Article 31 of the Constitution of Cambodia.

The party’s committee for the ministry of Education, Youth and Sports confirms that all Cambodians have the rights to participate in Politics with the spirit of respect and belief to the party’s political goal, voluntarily and without being forced to do it. Therefore, party’s work is internal work of the party, it is different from public profession, and the joining to the CPP is the right of each Cambodian citizen to decide in politics as they have to choose a leader who is filled with high intelligence for the development of the country with peace and rapid development of the economy.

Regarding the accusation that “the ministry is forcing and distributing forms to adhere to the CPP, an act that is contrary to democracy,” this statement is not right because the party’s committee for the ministry of Education, Youth and Sports is always conducting this current event for all CPP members working at the ministry, in particular [for it] to grasp the true number of party members. In fact the forms distributed by the party’s committee at the ministry are only party information forms, they were not forms to force adhesion to the CPP. Furthermore, any political party must grasp the number of party members.

For the reasons above, all information networks should know and openly publish this announcement in order to avoid continued confusion among the population.

Done in Phnom Penh, 09 September 2011

Party’s committee for the ministry of Education, Youth and Sports

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KI-Media Note:

If the CPP's claim is true, i.e. "all Cambodians have the rights to participate in Politics", then will it allow other political parties to distribute party adhesion form to employees the ministry of Education, Youth and Sport like the CPP does? Unless the CPP allows such action by other political parties, the CPP's action is tantamount to political coercion on employees at the ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. This is tantamount to the CPP leading the country to communism!

Opposition criticizes for the forcing of govt offcials to join the ruling party

http://www.box.net/shared/k9zutn2cjrgj5uyjp61h

Synopsis: Following the publication by KI-Media of CPP forms forcing govt officials to join the rank of the CPP, opposition parties criticize such move which is tantamount to the communist regime where state workers and state belong to the same political institution.

បក្ស​ប្រឆាំង ​រិះ​គន់​ការ​ឲ្យ​មន្ត្រី​រាជ​ការ​ចូល​ជា​សមាជិក​គណបក្ស​កាន់​អំណាច

Thursday, 08 September 2011
មាស​ សុខ​ជា
The Phnom Penh Post ​

ភ្នំពេញៈ ​គណបក្ស​ប្រឆាំង និង​អង្គការ​សង្គម​ស៊ីវិល​ បាន​វាយ​ប្រហារ​លើ​គណបក្ស​ប្រជាជន​កម្ពុជា​ (CPP)​ ដែល​កំពុង​ដឹក​នាំ​ប្រទេស ដោយ​ចោទ​ថា គណបក្ស​នេះ​ បាន​​បង្ខំ​ឲ្យ​មន្ត្រី​រាជ​ការ​ ចូល​​ជា​សមា​ជិក​គណ​បក្ស​របស់​ខ្លួន​ ដែល​ផ្ទុយ​ពី​គោល​ការ​ប្រជា​ធិបតេយ្យ។

ការ​រិះ​គន់​ទាំង​នេះ​ធ្វើ​ឡើង​បន្ទាប់​ពី​មាន​ឯកសារ​មួយ​លេច​ធ្លាយ ហើយ​ត្រូវ​បាន​ផ្សព្វ​ផ្សាយ នៅ​​លើ​គេហ​ទំព័រ KI កាល​ពី​​ម្សិល​មិញ​។ ឯកសារ​នោះ ​បង្ហាញ​ពី​ទម្រង់​ពាក្យ​សុំ​ចូល​ជា​សមាជិក​ដោយ​មាន​ស្លាក​សញ្ញា​គណ​បក្ស​ ប្រជា​ជនដែល​ត្រូវ​បាន​គេ​ចែក​ចាយ​នៅ​ក្នុង​ក្រសួង​អប់រំ។

មេដឹក​នាំ​គណ​បក្ស​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស​ និង​គណ​បក្ស សម រង្ស៊ី បាន​លើក​ឡើង​ថា យុទ្ធសា​ស្ត្រ​​ របស់​គណ​បក្ស​ប្រជាជន​កំពុង​ដឹក​នាំ​ប្រទេ​ស​​ទៅ​រក​ប្រព័ន្ធ​កុម្មុយនិស្ត ដែល​នាំ​ឲ្យ​រដ្ឋនិង​គណបក្ស​រួម​បញ្ចូល​គ្នា​តែ​មួយ។

Another example of CPP manipulation before the upcoming election?

06 September 2011
KI-Media

Below is a CPP membership form that is distributed at the Ministry of Education to force government officials at this ministry to join the CPP. Similar membership forms are currently issued to government officials in all ministries. Another example of CPP manipulation before the upcoming election?

Khmer Intelligence News - 21 February 2009

21 February 2009

A new Phnom Penh Governor in May (2)

The CPP has named current Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema its top-of-the-list candidate for the Capital City Council election to be held on May 17, 2009. Kep Chuktema will then become President of the to-be-formed CCC, a position incompatible with that of Phnom Penh governor. This governor position will be given to Hun Neng, an elder brother of Prime Minister Hun Sen and currently governor of Kampong Cham province. There was a foiled plan to appoint Hun Neng Phnom Penh governor in 2004. See "Hun Neng to be appointed Phnom Penh governor" (KI News, 18 August 2004).

Provincial, city and district elections manipulated by CPP (2)

The ruling CPP is using many methods to manipulate the forthcoming provincial, city and district council elections scheduled for May 17, 2009. In those indirect elections, voters are the existing 11,353 commune councilors who were elected in April 2007 in Cambodia's 1,621 communes. The two main competitors are the CPP (7,993 councilors) and the SRP (2,660) while the two "royalist" parties, NRP (425) and Funcinpec (274), will be virtually wiped out given the election system.

The CPP is using against the SRP the following methods to manipulate election results:

• Press politically-motivated charges against SRP councilors, many of whom have been arrested and jailed, thus losing their voting right. The CPP-controlled tribunal has issued arrest warrants targeting several SRP commune councilors including 2 commune chiefs.
• Offer money and well-paid government adviser positions to entice SRP commune councilors to defect to the CPP or to vote for CPP candidates.
• Prevent the SRP from removing its councilors who have defected to the CPP and from replacing them with loyal councilors as legally allowed in the framework of the party list system. The CPP authorities, from the commune office to the Interior Ministry, are stalling any replacement request presented by the SRP, whereas the CPP is able to change any of its councilors within days.

IRI poll: most CPP voters actually have no political preferences (2)

By the end of 2008, the Washington-based International Republican Institute conducted an opinion poll, with one of the questions asked being the following: "What differences do you see between the major parties that competed in National Assembly elections?"

The answers were as follows:

• No differences: 33%
• Don't know: 22%
• Gifts they give: 8%
• There are differences but cannot specify: 4%

Therefore, 67% of voters do not have any real political preferences. This group of voters mainly voted for the CPP in past elections, only seeking to be on the safe side (because of intimidation) or to receive gifts (because of extreme poverty), whereas the remaining 33% voters are more politicized and more politically determined and they mainly voted for opposition parties.

At the July 2008 national election, the CPP collected 58% of the votes (mainly from the 67 % less politicized voters), whereas the SRP and the HRP obtained respectively 22% and 6% of the votes (mainly from the 33% more politicized voters).

One can see that the CPP political base is not that strong since the ruling party's propaganda themes (7th January, protection against the Khmer Rouge, peace, "development", Hun Sen's role, etc) do not hold sway in the people's mind.

South Korea, a bad teacher for stock exchange investments (2)

On February 20, Cambodia's Finance Ministry was forced to postpone the signing of a joint venture agreement on the new Phnom Penh stock exchange to be launched by the end of the year. The reason for the postponement was the fact that the Korean adviser and partner who was supposed to cosign the agreement in his capacity as CEO of the South Korea Stock Exchange, did not show up. Maybe, it was a blessing in disguise because South Korea Stock Exchange was NOT the place to invest in during the past 2 years: since 2007 a foreign investor with Korean stocks has seen the value of his assets reduced by 80 percent (stock prices in Seoul went down by 50 percent and the Korean currency, the won, fell by 30 percent against the US dollar). See also "Foreign brokerage firms will be allowed to operate in Cambodia" (KI News, 27 September 2007) and "No stock market in Cambodia in a foreseeable future" (KI News, 31 January 2007).
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ARCHIVES

27 September 2007

Foreign brokerage firms will be allowed to operate in Cambodia (1)

On September 12, 2007, the National Assembly passed a law that lays the ground for the creation of a Stock Exchange in Cambodia. Many serious problems have to be solved before a real Bourse can be set up in this country (KI News, 31 January 2007: "No stock market in Cambodia in a foreseeable future"). During the parliamentary debate, opposition leader and former Finance Minister Sam Rainsy, who had been a security analyst and a portfolio manager in Europe for twenty years, stressed that the Government will have to be strict to ensure that listed companies release accurate information to prevent the public from being cheated. He obtained the assurance from the Government that foreign brokerage firms will be allowed to do business in Cambodia in order to help our future Stock Exchange meet international standards in due course.

See financial model for stock evaluation developed by Sam Rainsy at http://tinyurl.com/yvzvxg

31 January 2007

No stock market in Cambodia in a foreseeable future (2)

Contrary to several official announcements in a recent past, Cambodia will not be able to set up any stock market in a foreseeable future. Even the South Korean companies the Cambodian authorities had strongly hoped that they would help establish a Bourse in Phnom Penh, have given up the idea because there is no reliable accounting system in Cambodia. Any listed companies would have to present credible financial statements and records over several consecutive years, which is virtually impossible to obtain in a country plagued with corruption and lawlessness.

18 August 2004

Hun Neng to be appointed Phnom Penh governor (3)

Prime Minister Hun Sen's eldest brother Hun Neng, currently Svay Rieng provincial governor, will replace Kep Chuktema as Phnom Penh Municipality governor in September or October this year. Kep Chuktema will take up the current position of Hun Neng.

Cambodian opposition calls for rejection of election result

Tuesday, July 29, 2008
ABC Radio Australia

Opposition parties in Cambodia are calling on the international community to reject the weekend election results.

The ruling Cambodian People's Party claimed victory in Sunday's general elections, giving another five years in power to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

He's led the country for 23 years.

Four major political parties say they've rejected the outcome of the poll, claiming the elections and manipulated and rigged.

They claim one of the election forms, known as 1018, were freely handed to government supporters, but denied to opposition voters.

Reports on the Threats to Political Parties Activists

21st March 2008
By Serey Rath
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Khmerization
on the web at http://khmerization.blogspot.com

The Committee for Free and Fair Election in Cambodia (COMFREL) has said that political threats to political parties activists from the non-ruling parties and the concerns over personal security has increased twofold more than the year 2006.

The COMFREL’s report dated 20th March which has recorded the activities of the 2008 election preparations has released the statistics which shows that the Sam Rainsy Party has received 29 cases of threats, Funcinpec Party has received 2, Norodom Ranariddh Party has received 12 and the Human Rights Party has received 6 cases of threats and other political parties have received 2 threats.

COMFREL’s report stated that most cases of threats happened in Banteay Meanchey province, Kampong Cham province, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Speu, Kampong Thom, Kandal and in many other provinces also.

Other than threats there were 12 cases of destruction of party signs, especially party signs of the newly-formed parties.

The report, which was released yesterday, reported that many high government officials and military personnel have used government-paid time to lobby and to distribute gifts to voters to vote for the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

COMFREL has also said that the National Election Committee and other election-related authorities have never resolved those issues.

Other than political threats there are also 12 cases of party sign destructions, especially for those newly-formed political parties. COMFREL has also noted that in the 135 broadcasts on the state-owned TV, Funcinpec party has received 21 coverage while the Sam Rainsy Party has only received 5 coverage.

The exercise of political freedom of expression by political parties and by civil society through rallies/marches and the dissemination of information in public places were met with hindrances and crackdowns from armed groups and powerful authorities who used their influences and power to hinder and to forbid the owners of the places not to rent out the places to other political parties or non-governmental organisations, except the ruling party.

How did this governmental organisation (COMFREL) gather this sorts of information to arrive at the above results? Mr. Chan Darith, senior COMFREL information officer, explained: “COMFREL has posted 300 long-term observers throughout the country. And those observers will monitor the political situations relating to the election in their respective areas and prepare weekly or quarterly reports. And we have frequent contacts with each other. When emergency situations arose they will prepare emergency reports to the central office (in Phnom Penh). On the other hand, we also have our staff working at our central office. Their tasks were to observe and monitor the media broadcasts - that is we are monitoring the broadcasts of the state TV’s in particular. At this stage we haven’t monitored the broadcasts of the other media outlets much as yet. We are focusing on the state TV’s broadcasts in particular. And we have our working group to monitor the newspapers, political (environment) and the election (process) also.”

A torturous road to nation-building [-A must read for would-be Hun Sen supporters]

Thursday, March 20, 2008
By Barbara Crossette
The International Herald Tribune

As the July election approaches, the governing Cambodian People's Party knows how to stage a vote that monitors will likely find reasonably fair. What visitors will not see is the maneuvering already under way to buy off potential opposition figures with government jobs or bring bogus charges against others, to sow dissent within and among what few independent political groups that survive, and to use the party's ubiquitous neighborhood committees to bring voters into line. This is not the democracy the world thought it had installed. Cambodia's nightmare is not over.

PHNOM PENH: When the U.S. State Department's voluminous global human rights report appears each year, as it did last week, the temptation is to dive into the sections on hot-topic nations such as China, Iraq or, lately, Pakistan. Not a lot of readers would turn first to Cambodia. Yet this poor and psychologically wounded country is a prime object lesson in the perilous, unending business of nation-building. With a national election coming in July, Cambodia needs some attention well in advance.

In 1992-1993, the United Nations led a multimillion dollar effort to remake this Southeast Asian nation, which in barely two decades had been whipsawed into the American war in Indochina, brutalized by the Khmer Rouge and ground down and isolated by a Vietnamese occupation.

Fifteen years later, the country is among the world's most badly governed and politically corrupt. The State Department's report summarized it concisely: "Corruption was considered endemic and extended throughout all segments of society, including the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government." It is made all the worse, the report added, by a "culture of impunity."

Corruption is not just money; it is a corrosive mentality that debases national life in a country still not sure of itself. It deters aid and investment except by people from predictable (mostly Asian) nations who don't care - or who benefit from pervasive graft. But in a broader sense, what corruption has done to Cambodia is create a culture of easy wealth and casual lawlessness, a sad example to young people born into a broken society that was stripped of its intellectual middle class and Buddhist leadership under the Khmer Rouge.

Even the quality of architecture, scholarship, literature and the Khmer language has eroded. A measure of success nowadays is a garage full of late model Lexus SUVs and Toyota Land Cruisers, most of them acquired by government officials or their cronies at public expense.

Life in the graceful capital, Phnom Penh, is good. There are French restaurants and fine hotels that cosset tourists. But the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, a crafty and uncompromising leader who was able to corner political and military power in the 1990s, abetted by misguided UN decisions, has no coherent social policies.

People in the countryside live perennially on the edge of hunger. The World Food Program is still feeding about 1.8 million of the country's 14 million people. Health services in rural areas are all but non-existent; unqualified midwives cause the maternal mortality rate to rank among the worst in Asia.

Corruption also threatens the credibility and indeed the future of a UN-backed tribunal designed to bring to trial, finally, some of the remaining Khmer Rouge leaders who terrorized the country and reduced it to human and physical ruin from April 1975 to January 1979. In tribunal custody are four top former Khmer Rouge officials: Nuon Chea, Brother Number 2 to Pol Pot, who died in 1998; Khieu Samphan, the former head of state; Ieng Sary, the foreign minister, and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who held, bizarrely, the portfolio of social affairs. Also in jail is the Khmer Rouge chief torturer, Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, the commandant of the notorious Tuol Sleng interrogation center, which is now a tourist attraction.

The tribunal, at the insistence of Hun Sen and against the wishes of UN legal officials, was designed not to be independent but a hybrid called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. That has brought a corrupt judiciary and political patronage practices into a judicial process that distinguished and experienced international lawyers, prosecutors and judges struggle to keep on track.

The Cambodian government, reacting to outside reports detailing corrupt or questionable tribunal staffing, has refused to open an investigation of its own. Donors - most of all the United States, which pressed Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general, to agree to a flawed tribunal - are withholding money needed to carry cases to their conclusion. Trials are expected to begin this year.

Many Cambodians distrust the tribunal, not only because they do not understand why any of those in custody deserve a day in court, but also because they suspect that political chicanery by the Hun Sen government, with its share of former Khmer Rouge figures, will see to it that the process is carefully controlled, or thwarted. Mindful of its own history, the government abjures the terms Khmer Rouge or Communist and labels the disaster that overtook the country simply the "Pol Pot regime" absolving itself of guilt.

The State Department noted in its current report that there do not appear to be any politically motivated killings or political prisoners in Cambodia. But the report does acknowledge, citing work by courageous Cambodian human rights groups, that abuses by the military and police, often in league with governing party officials, occur widely around the country. Journalists can attest to that. There is also vigilante justice in the absence of a judicial system that Cambodians can trust. The UN human rights office in Phnom Penh has documented brutal land seizures by the well connected that drive out thousands of poor farmers with no means of recourse. This is a major deterrent to rural development.

The corruption and violence in the countryside should be a warning. During the Khmer Rouge years, as discussion around the tribunal is making ever more evident, Cambodians suffered most at the hands of local zealots and barely thought about a national movement or knew its name. The level of horrors that killed about 1.7 million Cambodians - through slave labor, dislocation, disease, starvation and execution - varied from place to place. In the eyes of most Cambodians there was no central government then. There is little more now.

As the July election approaches, the governing Cambodian People's Party knows how to stage a vote that monitors will likely find reasonably fair. What visitors will not see is the maneuvering already under way to buy off potential opposition figures with government jobs or bring bogus charges against others, to sow dissent within and among what few independent political groups that survive, and to use the party's ubiquitous neighborhood committees to bring voters into line. This is not the democracy the world thought it had installed. Cambodia's nightmare is not over.

Barbara Crossette, a former bureau chief of The New York Times in Southeast Asia, was in Cambodia in January and February helping local journalists prepare to report on the Khmer Rouge trials.

COMFREL Unveils Irregularities in National Election Process

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
24 August 2007

Poll preparations have been plagued with irregularities that could lead to discouraged voters and a skewed national election next year, the independent monitor group COMFREL said Thursday.

The Committee for Free and Fair Elections said it had found that village chiefs and commune council members were not following instructions to post voter lists for public review to ensure that those who want to vote know they are eligible.

In a survey of 165 of Cambodia's 1,621 communes, Comfrel found 28 with some type of irregularity, according to a report published on the group's Web site Thursday.

As many as 550,000 names could be deleted from voter lists, which are an essential part of the election process at the village level, as Cambodia prepares for national parliamentary elections next year, opposition leader Sam Rainsy has said.

People who had aliases were at risk of becoming ineligible, Comfrel said, along with those who traveled to other areas for work.

The majority of irregularities was found in Kampong Cham and Kampong Thom provinces and consistently affected supporters of the Sam Rainsy, Norodom Ranariddh and Funcinpec parties, according to the report.

These complications could discourage potential voters and affect the free and fair status of the elections, Comfrel Executive Director Koul Panha said.

In commune elections this year, only 65 percent of eligible voters turned out, a considerably lower number than in other elections, and political opponents of the ruling Cambodian People's Party cite this as proof of election tampering.

The National Election Committee has said voter lists will be posted until Oct. 20, so that people have a chance to rectify discrepancies, but opponents have said this puts an unfair burden on the people.

SRP: Child Soldiers in Africa, Child Voters in Cambodia

21 July 2007

CHILD SOLDIERS IN AFRICA, CHILD VOTERS IN CAMBODIA

In Africa, tribal leaders further their war-aims by manipulating children to become soldiers. In Cambodia, the government took the first step towards enlisting children in becoming pawns to be manipulated by the ruling party at the polls ["People Now Eligible for National ID at Age 15," Cambodia Daily 20 July 2007].

The issuing of ID cards to adults over the past few years has been a highly politicized process. It was one of the main administrative tricks used by the authorities to artificially inflate the number of votes for the CPP and decrease the number of votes for the opposition.

Now that 900,000 Cambodian children have been authorized to receive a National ID card, we should expect this mass of young people to be the subjects of the newest version of election manipulation. At the outset, it is likely that cards will be selectively issued, so that the children of CPP supporters will easily receive a card while children of opponents will be denied them through administrative barriers. When the children then come of age, more CPP supporters will already have been registered.

It is also possible that the age listed on the ID card is increased by at least a year. In this case, 16 year olds could claim to be 17, thus making them eligible to vote in next year's National Assembly election.

We should also suspect that these young people will be the targets of bribes and other forms of manipulation on voting day. In 2007, many illegitimate voters, including people under 18, were bribed by CPP authorities to cast ballots using ghost names that are intentionally kept on voter list. This new crop of young people will be particularly vulnerable to this kind of bribery and manipulation next year.

In order to stem this flow of abuses, ID cards should be issued only to those young people who are 17 years of age – those who will legitimately be eligible to vote in next year's election.

SRP Members of Parliament