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Showing posts with label CPP vote manipulation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CPP vote manipulation. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Election better than 2003 but still short of int’l standards
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Craig Guthrie
The Mekong Times
Craig Guthrie
The Mekong Times
Although the campaign for last Sunday’s national election was more peaceful and technically better organized than the nation’s previous elections, it still fell short of a number of key international standards, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) said yesterday.
“As someone who was here in 2003, I feel that the election environment has improved a great deal,” said Glyn Ford, the EU mission representative from the European Parliament. “Nevertheless, there were some issues that caused concern.”
The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which is widely believed to have routed the opposition in Sunday’s vote, exerts an unhealthy influence over the nation’s media and election administration said the mission at the launch of its preliminary statement on the campaign.
There is evidence of other dubious maneuvers by the CPP, such as a “consistent and widespread use of state resources [to campaign],” and defections from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) to the CPP which “would support the claim that funds or high government positions were offered,” said Martin Callanan, the EU EOM’s chief observer.
He said that the EU mission has witness statements which suggest that a pattern of defections of the SRP’s leadership and key activists to the CPP in return for funds, government positions or gifts may be part of “an organized campaign.”
The CPP dominated media coverage of the elections was not consistent with international standards on free and equal access to the media, said the mission.
The National Election Committee (NEC) proved its ability to organize technically good elections, but “all aspects of the election’s administration were dominated by the CPP,” he said, adding that village and commune chiefs, the majority of whom are CPP affiliated, would often “influence” voters’ decisions.
Some 50,000 previous registered voters, or 0.6 percent of the electorate, were mistakenly deleted from the voter list, and despite the NEC’s awareness of the fact it refused to restore their names and thus disenfranchised them, said the EU in its report.
The NEC also delegated tasks to local authorities which were known not to be impartial, said Callanan.
The EU monitors found evidence that the 1018 voter ID forms were being illegally distributed by CPP-aligned village chiefs to voters, despite the fact that their ID cards showed they had different identities, effectively allowing voters to either vote twice or ineligible voters to take part.
“This is a clear contravention of Cambodia’s Election Law,” Callanan said, adding that there is no way to know how widespread the practice was as there are no records of how many 1018 forms were issued.
The mission chief said that the “Cambodian People are to be congratulated for the peaceful and orderly way in which they turned out to vote … in a clear demonstration of their commitment to democracy.”
He added that it was the decision of the Cambodian people whether to accept or reject the results, and that the size of the CPP majority in comparison to the scale of the irregularities could render them ineffectual.
“The CPP clearly has a very large majority therefore any irregularities would have to be on a very large scale to invalidate the [election] result.”
Sam Rainsy, whose SRP has jointly rejected the election results with other major opposition parties, said at the report’s launch that he was satisfied with the EU’s findings and that there has been not yet been any concrete acceptance of the elections as “free and fair” by the international community.
“In a proportional representation system like ours a single vote can cost a seat, so though 50,000 voters in a voting population of 8 million may not sound a lot, it is actually very significant,” he said, adding that he hoped to deliver more evidence of irregularities to the EU monitors.
Callanan said that the request by the SRP and other opposition parties that the election be re-held will only be credible if they can produce sufficient evidence of large-scale irregularities, adding that the EU’s full report on the entire electoral process will be released in October.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia (OHCHR) also released a statement yesterday commending the election’s atmosphere for being “for the most part peaceful and free of violence.”
However, the OHCHR did observe “an apparent campaign of pressure, threats, intimidation and inducements directed against political activists at every level in an attempt to persuade them to change parties.”
“As someone who was here in 2003, I feel that the election environment has improved a great deal,” said Glyn Ford, the EU mission representative from the European Parliament. “Nevertheless, there were some issues that caused concern.”
The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which is widely believed to have routed the opposition in Sunday’s vote, exerts an unhealthy influence over the nation’s media and election administration said the mission at the launch of its preliminary statement on the campaign.
There is evidence of other dubious maneuvers by the CPP, such as a “consistent and widespread use of state resources [to campaign],” and defections from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) to the CPP which “would support the claim that funds or high government positions were offered,” said Martin Callanan, the EU EOM’s chief observer.
He said that the EU mission has witness statements which suggest that a pattern of defections of the SRP’s leadership and key activists to the CPP in return for funds, government positions or gifts may be part of “an organized campaign.”
The CPP dominated media coverage of the elections was not consistent with international standards on free and equal access to the media, said the mission.
The National Election Committee (NEC) proved its ability to organize technically good elections, but “all aspects of the election’s administration were dominated by the CPP,” he said, adding that village and commune chiefs, the majority of whom are CPP affiliated, would often “influence” voters’ decisions.
Some 50,000 previous registered voters, or 0.6 percent of the electorate, were mistakenly deleted from the voter list, and despite the NEC’s awareness of the fact it refused to restore their names and thus disenfranchised them, said the EU in its report.
The NEC also delegated tasks to local authorities which were known not to be impartial, said Callanan.
The EU monitors found evidence that the 1018 voter ID forms were being illegally distributed by CPP-aligned village chiefs to voters, despite the fact that their ID cards showed they had different identities, effectively allowing voters to either vote twice or ineligible voters to take part.
“This is a clear contravention of Cambodia’s Election Law,” Callanan said, adding that there is no way to know how widespread the practice was as there are no records of how many 1018 forms were issued.
The mission chief said that the “Cambodian People are to be congratulated for the peaceful and orderly way in which they turned out to vote … in a clear demonstration of their commitment to democracy.”
He added that it was the decision of the Cambodian people whether to accept or reject the results, and that the size of the CPP majority in comparison to the scale of the irregularities could render them ineffectual.
“The CPP clearly has a very large majority therefore any irregularities would have to be on a very large scale to invalidate the [election] result.”
Sam Rainsy, whose SRP has jointly rejected the election results with other major opposition parties, said at the report’s launch that he was satisfied with the EU’s findings and that there has been not yet been any concrete acceptance of the elections as “free and fair” by the international community.
“In a proportional representation system like ours a single vote can cost a seat, so though 50,000 voters in a voting population of 8 million may not sound a lot, it is actually very significant,” he said, adding that he hoped to deliver more evidence of irregularities to the EU monitors.
Callanan said that the request by the SRP and other opposition parties that the election be re-held will only be credible if they can produce sufficient evidence of large-scale irregularities, adding that the EU’s full report on the entire electoral process will be released in October.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia (OHCHR) also released a statement yesterday commending the election’s atmosphere for being “for the most part peaceful and free of violence.”
However, the OHCHR did observe “an apparent campaign of pressure, threats, intimidation and inducements directed against political activists at every level in an attempt to persuade them to change parties.”
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Democracy, Cambodian Style
Several days before Sunday's election I followed the newly-formed opposition "Human Rights Party" on the campaign trail in Kompong Cham province. Tacked to the front of the house is a picture of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Children came out from their homes to watch the campaign activity.
Party advocates went door-to-door, explaining the HRP platform to potential voters. These woman listened while weaving straw mats.July 28, 2008
Elena Lesley
The Huffington Post
KOMPONG CHAM - As voting came to a close in Cambodia's national elections Sunday, I stood outside makeshift polling station 1660, waiting to watch the ballots counted. Just over 500 Cambodians had voted at this rural outpost - the downstairs of a wooden stilt house -- in the country's fourth parliamentary election since a massive UN intervention in the early 1990s.
Shortly after I arrived at the house, a woman rode up on a bicycle, her index finger stained purple indicating that she had already voted. She said she had been registered at more than one polling station and was wondering if she should vote again. Looking nervously at the gathered observers, the election officials sent her away. Then another woman approached the house from the nearby dirt road. Her hair hanging in limp strands from the intermittent rain, she explained she had been wandering around the village all day, trying to find the polling station where she was registered. Voting ended ten minutes ago, she was told. Disheartened, she left.
The ruling Cambodian People's Party has claimed over two-thirds of the vote in Sunday's election, a win that will tighten the party's grip on political power. Though an official tally is yet to be released, opposition parties are already contesting the CPP's victory. They argue that voter roll inconsistencies -- like those I witnessed on election day -- were in fact widespread and deliberate. Sam Rainsy, who heads the leading opposition party, claims that thousands of voters' names mysteriously disappeared from registration lists. He has called for a revote in the capital city of Phnom Penh, where he says irregularities were particularly glaring, and threatens to lead protests in the next few days if this does not happen.
I would not be surprised if there was some truth in these claims. However, during my time in Cambodia, I've learned that the CPP's sweeping victories cannot be explained by election day fraud alone. A culture of tangible and psychological intimidation is a year-round fact of life for many Cambodians; so is fear of change in a country clinging to stability.
CPP Prime Minister Hun Sen first came to power in 1985, while the wounds from the Killing Fields were still fresh in Cambodian society. His political career outlived the end of Vietnamese occupation, as well as the lingering Khmer Rouge insurgency. A self-described "strongman," he says he will remain in power until he is 90 years old.
Hun Sen's regime, especially in recent years, has been characterized by lopsided progress. Fighting has ended and the economy is booming. But these improvements have come at the expense of human rights and a truly competitive democracy. Under Hun Sen's administration, land grabbing, resulting in mass evictions of the powerless, is rampant. The country's natural resources are being traded, at discount prices, for profit. The gulf between the rich and poor grows ever wider, with countless Cambodians living in poverty while a tiny, unaccountable elite cashes in on their misery.
Given this backdrop, many outsiders may wonder, why does the CPP keep winning? It's a question I have grappled with since I first came to this country on a yearlong journalism fellowship in 2004. The answer, I believe, is complicated and increasingly nuanced. While voter fraud may explain a percentage of the party's success, there are other endemic forces that, at this point in history, make the CPP unbeatable.
To begin with, there are people who genuinely support the CPP, who for now are willing to sacrifice democracy for political and economic stability. After a three-year absence, I returned to Cambodia in April and was struck by how much it had changed. Phnom Penh is thriving. The city's first skyscrapers are under construction and a plethora of new shops, coffeehouses and fast food joints -- including a KFC -- cater to the burgeoning middle class. Public parks previously frequented by sex workers are now crammed with young families and students every evening. To a lesser extent, the development has spread to the countryside, where new roads and other infrastructure projects give citizens hope for a better future.
Even those who don't fully support the CPP may vote for the party because they feel its victory is inevitable. A graduate student in Siem Reap told me: "Hun Sen is like a tree whose roots have grown deep throughout the country. No other party can compete right now." Since the CPP has the financial resources to offer gifts to potential voters, disillusioned citizens feel they might as well, "take their free bag of rice and vote for the CPP," as one opposition activist told me.
Then there is the intimidation, big and small, blatant and subtle, that underpins political life in Cambodia - reaching to every thatched roof home and rice farm. Although there have been a handful of allegedly politically motivated crimes, including the murder of an opposition journalist and his adult son, in the lead-up to Sunday's election, violence is down from past years. Still, the legacy of turbulence surrounding previous elections haunts Cambodians. It seems many believe that the CPP has "eyes like a pineapple," an expression that was used during the Khmer Rouge period to describe the government's all-knowing nature. As campaigning kicked off around a month ago, I was told more than once to "be careful" because "things happen before the election." Many people, whether rightly or wrongly, credited an overarching CPP plot for everything from an increase in street crime to the border dispute with Thailand over Preah Vihear temple. The aim is to undermine citizens' sense of security, they said; scared people don't vote for change. Some Cambodians I spoke with began stockpiling food, fearing that if the CPP did not gain a decisive majority there would be unrest and possibly war.
Even if Cambodians make it to election day with the intent of supporting an opposition party, the voting process itself is subject to subtle intimidation. While ostensibly a secret ballot, the polling stations often do not feel anonymous. Elections are highly decentralized, with some stations hosting no more than 200 voters.
At polling station 1660, voters were to mark their ballots behind flimsy folding screens, just feet away from various party representatives and election observers. The whole process was a little too intimate, I thought, and wondered if I would have the courage to vote against the CPP if I were in their position.
Once voting was complete, election committee members opened the sealed metal ballot box and began counting the votes, keeping tally on a posted sheet of paper. Each party had a different identifying number -- from one to 11 -- and one claimed far more votes than any of the others.
"Number four," the head counter announced in Khmer, racking up another vote for the CPP. "Number four, number four, number four." It became almost robotic.
There was no doubt who had triumphed at polling station 1660. How they had gotten there was the real question.
Shortly after I arrived at the house, a woman rode up on a bicycle, her index finger stained purple indicating that she had already voted. She said she had been registered at more than one polling station and was wondering if she should vote again. Looking nervously at the gathered observers, the election officials sent her away. Then another woman approached the house from the nearby dirt road. Her hair hanging in limp strands from the intermittent rain, she explained she had been wandering around the village all day, trying to find the polling station where she was registered. Voting ended ten minutes ago, she was told. Disheartened, she left.
The ruling Cambodian People's Party has claimed over two-thirds of the vote in Sunday's election, a win that will tighten the party's grip on political power. Though an official tally is yet to be released, opposition parties are already contesting the CPP's victory. They argue that voter roll inconsistencies -- like those I witnessed on election day -- were in fact widespread and deliberate. Sam Rainsy, who heads the leading opposition party, claims that thousands of voters' names mysteriously disappeared from registration lists. He has called for a revote in the capital city of Phnom Penh, where he says irregularities were particularly glaring, and threatens to lead protests in the next few days if this does not happen.
I would not be surprised if there was some truth in these claims. However, during my time in Cambodia, I've learned that the CPP's sweeping victories cannot be explained by election day fraud alone. A culture of tangible and psychological intimidation is a year-round fact of life for many Cambodians; so is fear of change in a country clinging to stability.
CPP Prime Minister Hun Sen first came to power in 1985, while the wounds from the Killing Fields were still fresh in Cambodian society. His political career outlived the end of Vietnamese occupation, as well as the lingering Khmer Rouge insurgency. A self-described "strongman," he says he will remain in power until he is 90 years old.
Hun Sen's regime, especially in recent years, has been characterized by lopsided progress. Fighting has ended and the economy is booming. But these improvements have come at the expense of human rights and a truly competitive democracy. Under Hun Sen's administration, land grabbing, resulting in mass evictions of the powerless, is rampant. The country's natural resources are being traded, at discount prices, for profit. The gulf between the rich and poor grows ever wider, with countless Cambodians living in poverty while a tiny, unaccountable elite cashes in on their misery.
Given this backdrop, many outsiders may wonder, why does the CPP keep winning? It's a question I have grappled with since I first came to this country on a yearlong journalism fellowship in 2004. The answer, I believe, is complicated and increasingly nuanced. While voter fraud may explain a percentage of the party's success, there are other endemic forces that, at this point in history, make the CPP unbeatable.
To begin with, there are people who genuinely support the CPP, who for now are willing to sacrifice democracy for political and economic stability. After a three-year absence, I returned to Cambodia in April and was struck by how much it had changed. Phnom Penh is thriving. The city's first skyscrapers are under construction and a plethora of new shops, coffeehouses and fast food joints -- including a KFC -- cater to the burgeoning middle class. Public parks previously frequented by sex workers are now crammed with young families and students every evening. To a lesser extent, the development has spread to the countryside, where new roads and other infrastructure projects give citizens hope for a better future.
Even those who don't fully support the CPP may vote for the party because they feel its victory is inevitable. A graduate student in Siem Reap told me: "Hun Sen is like a tree whose roots have grown deep throughout the country. No other party can compete right now." Since the CPP has the financial resources to offer gifts to potential voters, disillusioned citizens feel they might as well, "take their free bag of rice and vote for the CPP," as one opposition activist told me.
Then there is the intimidation, big and small, blatant and subtle, that underpins political life in Cambodia - reaching to every thatched roof home and rice farm. Although there have been a handful of allegedly politically motivated crimes, including the murder of an opposition journalist and his adult son, in the lead-up to Sunday's election, violence is down from past years. Still, the legacy of turbulence surrounding previous elections haunts Cambodians. It seems many believe that the CPP has "eyes like a pineapple," an expression that was used during the Khmer Rouge period to describe the government's all-knowing nature. As campaigning kicked off around a month ago, I was told more than once to "be careful" because "things happen before the election." Many people, whether rightly or wrongly, credited an overarching CPP plot for everything from an increase in street crime to the border dispute with Thailand over Preah Vihear temple. The aim is to undermine citizens' sense of security, they said; scared people don't vote for change. Some Cambodians I spoke with began stockpiling food, fearing that if the CPP did not gain a decisive majority there would be unrest and possibly war.
Even if Cambodians make it to election day with the intent of supporting an opposition party, the voting process itself is subject to subtle intimidation. While ostensibly a secret ballot, the polling stations often do not feel anonymous. Elections are highly decentralized, with some stations hosting no more than 200 voters.
At polling station 1660, voters were to mark their ballots behind flimsy folding screens, just feet away from various party representatives and election observers. The whole process was a little too intimate, I thought, and wondered if I would have the courage to vote against the CPP if I were in their position.
Once voting was complete, election committee members opened the sealed metal ballot box and began counting the votes, keeping tally on a posted sheet of paper. Each party had a different identifying number -- from one to 11 -- and one claimed far more votes than any of the others.
"Number four," the head counter announced in Khmer, racking up another vote for the CPP. "Number four, number four, number four." It became almost robotic.
There was no doubt who had triumphed at polling station 1660. How they had gotten there was the real question.
Four Main Parties Reject 'Sham' Election
The four main non-ruling parties said Sunday's elections were seriously flawed with a number of voting irregularities. (L-R) Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) leader Sam Rainsy, Human Rights Party leader Khem Sokha, member of royalist FUNCINPEC Prince Sisowath Sirirath and member of Norodom Ranariddh Party Muth Chantha hold hands during a news conference, as they reject election results saying it was manipulated by the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CCP) at SRP headquarters in Phnom Penh July 28, 2008. CCP claimed a landslide victory on Monday in an election bestowing another five years in power on ex-Khmer Rouge guerrilla Hun Sen, prime minister for the past 23 years. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
28 July 2008
Representatives from four non-ruling parties gathered at opposition headquarters Monday to reject Sunday's national election as "a sham," after the ruling Cambodian People's Party appeared to have won enough seats to form a single-party government.
Top officials of the Sam Rainsy, Human Rights, Norodom Ranariddh and Funcinpec parties signed a letter calling on "Cambodian public opinion and the international community not to recognize the results of the July 27, 2008, elections, which were manipulated and rigged by the ruling Cambodian People's Party."
There have not been five separate parties elected to the National Assembly since the 1993 Untac elections, and the joining together of four against one is unprecedented.
In 1998, the Sam Rainsy and Funcinpec parties joined together to protest election results in the wake of the 1997 coup.
That three-month crisis of government led to mass demonstrations in the capital and a brutal crackdown by government forces, where scores of demonstrators were disappeared and presumed killed.
In 2003, the government was deadlocked for 11 months, due to an alliance between Funcinpec and SRP that prevented a coalition government.
"We have already strengthened together to deny the results of the election, and also for the voters," opposition leader Sam Rainsy told a large crowd gathered at his headquarters Monday afternoon. "We need to revote across Cambodia."
"We appeal to the EU and the international community to deny the results, because there are so many irregularities during the election," Human Rights Party Presdient Kem Sokha told the same cheering crowd.
The parties "hope in the future will have an alliance together" and have the same goals, he said.
The main point for the alliance would be to send a message to the people "who love justice" to come to work together.
The four parties condemned "illegal and fraudulent practices" in Sunday's polls, including "deletion of countless legitimate voters' names and [an] artificial increase in the CPP voters to cast their ballots for the CPP."
The parties also condemned "the tricks and maneuvers of the National Election Committee, which is only a tool for the CPP to organize a sham election and present a façade of democracy."
"I'm not surprised about this information," NEC Chairman Im Sousdey told reporters Monday. "We always see after the election Cambodian political parties doing the same thing."
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Monday unofficial results now showed the CPP with 90 seats, followed by the Sam Rainsy Party with 26, Human Rights Party with three, Norodom Ranariddh with two, and Funcinpec with two.
Khieu Thai Sarakmony, a 57-year-old from Phnom Penh who joined the crowd at SRP headquarters Monday, said he supported the cooperation of the four parties for the people.
"But it should have been earlier," he said, "before the election."
Top officials of the Sam Rainsy, Human Rights, Norodom Ranariddh and Funcinpec parties signed a letter calling on "Cambodian public opinion and the international community not to recognize the results of the July 27, 2008, elections, which were manipulated and rigged by the ruling Cambodian People's Party."
There have not been five separate parties elected to the National Assembly since the 1993 Untac elections, and the joining together of four against one is unprecedented.
In 1998, the Sam Rainsy and Funcinpec parties joined together to protest election results in the wake of the 1997 coup.
That three-month crisis of government led to mass demonstrations in the capital and a brutal crackdown by government forces, where scores of demonstrators were disappeared and presumed killed.
In 2003, the government was deadlocked for 11 months, due to an alliance between Funcinpec and SRP that prevented a coalition government.
"We have already strengthened together to deny the results of the election, and also for the voters," opposition leader Sam Rainsy told a large crowd gathered at his headquarters Monday afternoon. "We need to revote across Cambodia."
"We appeal to the EU and the international community to deny the results, because there are so many irregularities during the election," Human Rights Party Presdient Kem Sokha told the same cheering crowd.
The parties "hope in the future will have an alliance together" and have the same goals, he said.
The main point for the alliance would be to send a message to the people "who love justice" to come to work together.
The four parties condemned "illegal and fraudulent practices" in Sunday's polls, including "deletion of countless legitimate voters' names and [an] artificial increase in the CPP voters to cast their ballots for the CPP."
The parties also condemned "the tricks and maneuvers of the National Election Committee, which is only a tool for the CPP to organize a sham election and present a façade of democracy."
"I'm not surprised about this information," NEC Chairman Im Sousdey told reporters Monday. "We always see after the election Cambodian political parties doing the same thing."
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Monday unofficial results now showed the CPP with 90 seats, followed by the Sam Rainsy Party with 26, Human Rights Party with three, Norodom Ranariddh with two, and Funcinpec with two.
Khieu Thai Sarakmony, a 57-year-old from Phnom Penh who joined the crowd at SRP headquarters Monday, said he supported the cooperation of the four parties for the people.
"But it should have been earlier," he said, "before the election."
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