COMFREL's Invitation for 2012 Volunteer Observers

Dear all,

The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia – COMFREL would like to call for the participations from diverse non-government organizations, associations, unions and university students to take part in election processes as volunteer observers, especially during the election and counting days in the upcoming third commune councils election scheduled on 03 June 2012.

To reach this aim, COMFREL would like to take this opportunity to invite you or your representatives – who all interested in elections observation – to attend a “2012 Commune Councils Election Participation” meeting, will be held on Monday 26th March 2012 at Cambodian Korean Cultural Center.

• Meeting : 2012 Commune Councils Elections Participation.
• Date : Monday 26th March 2012.
• Time : 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
• Venue : Cambodian Korean Cultural Center - Road: 274, Sangkat Tonle Basac, Chamkar Morn, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Confirm your participation : 023-884-150, 012-398-116, 012-471-326

Your participation will be a chance to enhance observation process to strengthening democracy and promote free and fair elections in Cambodia.

We strongly hope that you will provide us about your represent confirmation as soon as possible in order to organize the event smoothly.

Please see the attached document for details; Application Form and Announcement.

FYI : If you need releases or articles related to workshop on voter's voices, elections reforms, democracy/political reforms, decentralization and governance, please feel free to visit our website:

www.comfrel.org

Best regards,

COMFREL


http://www.box.com/s/8ee4c37928d5647f3e8d


http://www.box.com/s/d37bea8515151cb09815

Invitation for 2012 Volunteer Observers

Dear all,

The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia – COMFREL would like to call for the participations from diverse non-government organizations, associations, unions and university students to take part in election processes as volunteer observers, especially during the election and counting days in the upcoming third commune councils election scheduled on 03 June 2012.

To reach this aim, COMFREL would like to take this opportunity to invite you or your representatives – who all interested in elections observation – to attend a “2012 Commune Councils Election Participation” meeting, will be held on Monday 26th March 2012 at Cambodian Korean Cultural Center.

• Meeting : 2012 Commune Councils Elections Participation.
• Date : Monday 26th March 2012.
• Time : 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
• Venue : Cambodian Korean Cultural Center - Road: 274, Sangkat Tonle Basac, Chamkar Morn, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Your participation will be a chance to enhance observation process to strengthening and promote free and fair elections in Cambodia.

We strongly hope that you will provide us about your represent confirmation as soon as possible in order to organize the event smoothly.

Please see the attached document for details; Application Form and Announcement.

FYI : If you need releases or articles related to workshop on voter's voices, elections reforms, democracy/political reforms, decentralization and governance, please feel free to visit our website:

www.comfrel.org

Best regards,

COMFREL

Announcement

http://www.box.com/s/667655355bd4dd17ff4c

Application Form

http://www.box.com/s/b3f7addc9efc2786f8c0

Low Funds Hurting Election Monitors

Election observer inside a polling station on 28 July 2003 (Photo: John Vink/Magnum)

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 July 2008

Non-governmental observers are facing a shortage of money for Sunday's election, decreasing the number of eyes watching the polls and the counts and leaving the country's two main independent monitors concerned for the free and fair status of the process.

The Committee for Free and Fair Elections had received $600,000 in elections past, but this year they were given $200,000 from international donors.

The shortfall will make it hard for observers to properly monitor the election, Koul Panha, executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, said.

Comfrel in the past was able to put at least one observer at each station. Ballot stations in past elections went from 12,000 in 1998 to 13,000 in 2003.

"The ballot stations are increasing now, up to 15,000," he said. "But we've received less money, and we cannot deploy our staff or observers for each station to monitor irregularities, because we have only 10,000 observers.

"We expect that it would have an impact to monitor properly, but we will focus on the most important stations in the main provinces," he said.

Comfrel should receive more contributions, not less, he said, especially considering the rising cost of goods, including food and fuel, in Cambodia, Koul Panha said.

Stressing the importance of observers and acknowledging their lowered funding, Sok Samoeun, executive director of the Cambodia Defenders Project, said he had sent 25 volunteer observers to help Comfrel.

The Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia will field 7,000 observers on Sunday, along with 880 "special" observers who work throughout the final count.

Nicfec has funding for voter education and observation, but this year received only $30,000, which led to a cut in training of observers, executive director Hang Puthea said.

The decrease in funding will hurt the free and fair status of the election, Hang Puthea said.

"It is necessary that we have observers to ensure free and fair elections," he said. "If observers are decreasing, the quality of observation will also go down, and it affects free and fair elections. The decrease in finances effectively causes a decrease in the number of observers, because we have the high price of fuel and the high price of goods, and so we have to reduce the amount of equipment."

In past elections, Nicfec observers wore hats and T-shirts to identify them, but this year, there are no hats, he said.

The National Election Committee estimates around 24,400 local observers from 67 organizations and 433 from 21 international missions, including observers from the US, EU, France and Japan.

NEC Secretary-General Tep Nitha said he was not concerned that a lower number of observers would have an effect on the status of the election.

In 1998 elections had 80,000 observers, he said, but some of them did not have quality training. The decrease in the number of observers reflected improved preparations of the election, he said.

"Of course, observers are a mirror, an eye to reflect the voting process," Tep Nitha said.

90,000 observers ready for general election

EU election observer (Photo: AN, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Eath Daravuth
The Mekong Times

Nearly 90,000 observers and political party agents will be present for the July 27 general election, Tep Nytha, secretary general of the National Election Committee (NEC), said yesterday.

Of these, 24,422 are national observers from 67 organizations, Tep Nytha said, and 433 are international observers from 21 organizations. Most observers – 62,831 – are affiliated to one of Cambodia’s political parties.

Four of the 11 political parties contending the election – the Khmer Democratic Party, Khmer Anti-poverty Party, Social Justice Party and Khmer Republican Party – are sending no observers, Tep Nytha said.

The Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) has around 35,000 observers, said NRP spokesman Muth Chantha. Even with these observers, he was still concerned over possible election irregularities.

“We cannot catch those who try to forge [votes]. We set up one preventive strategy, they find another fraud. Those international observers are not deployed in all [polling] stations and [they] don’t understand NEC procedures, don’t know the geography and don’t know the tricks involved in ballot fraud.”

Muth Chantha admitted he had a higher opinion of national observers, including many from electoral watchdogs.

The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) appealed to expatriate Cambodians July 16 for help with food feeding his 30,000 strong army of observers on election day. The SRP observers will be stationed at 15,225 polling stations.

“The strategy that the SRP is using to prepare the election campaign stems from the participation of citizens and nationalists,” said SRP President Sam Rainsy.

Eng Chhay Eang, SRP secretary general, said party observers will be rewarded should they uncover any ballot fraud.

Ou Chanroth, secretary general of the Human Rights Party (HRP), claimed there will be over 20,000 HRP observers, though some areas, such as Preah Vihear province, will not be scrutinized. “This failure doesn’t mean that there are no HRP supporters because the time was too short to prepare,” he said.

Ok Socheat, a Funcinpec party advisor, said Funcinpec will send two observers to each ballot station. But he was unsure that all the Funcinpec observers would be up to scratch. “[S]ome offices are far away from observers, who can be afraid, threatened or lazy,” he said. “Party observers are very important. If observers are not excellent, one month’s campaign efforts will be futile.”

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) has observers in all polling stations, said Nguon Nhel, a member of the CPP Central Committee’s Standing Committee. Among the CPP observers are some highly trained in NEC procedures.

Hang Puthea, director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, is to send 7,880 Cambodian observers and 85 foreign observers.

Gov’t appeals against ‘political pollution’ ahead of election campaign

Thursday, 26 June 2008
Chun Sophal
The Mekong Times

“International [election] observers have to pay more attention to the issues rather than driving a car round sightseeing ... We don’t have faith in the government appeal.” - SRP MP Yim Sovann

The government has called for political parties, NGOs, and election observers to join together in preventing “pollution of the political environment” during this year’s national election campaign.

“NGOs, party representatives, international and national observers, and the Cambodian people should cooperate with each other in providing information on the threats and irregularities of people wishing to pollute the political environment during the election campaign and the election,” said a three-page statement issued yesterday, signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

“Security forces and authorities have to take urgent measures to curb potential offences – such as robberies, intimidation, violence and crimes – abusing and injuring parliamentary candidates, party members, campaigners, international and national observers, election officials, and voters.”

Authorities, commune councilors and village chiefs must perform their work independently and impartially to ensure that the political environment is peaceful and secure, read the statement, adding that political parties should run their campaigns based on the principles of equality and democracy.

European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission (EOM) Deputy Chief Observer Graham Elson, who arrived in Cambodia last weekend, said yesterday that the EU does not wish to see any pre- or post-election conflict in Cambodia.

“I want to hear Cambodian politicians speaking about developments rather than disputes in their electoral campaign,” said Elson, adding that the EOM yesterday sent its first group of 44 observers to all Cambodian provinces to monitor the election campaign and process.

The EU plans to spend US$4 million to observe the July 27 elections and is sending a total of more than 130 election observers.

“I believe that the EU EOM will encourage the electoral process to go much more smoothly, freely and fairly,” said Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, a prominent local election monitoring NGO. “I think that, together, [election] observers and political parties can secure a peaceful and better electoral process.”

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Yim Sovann said his party remains very concerned over intimidation and politically motivated violence ahead of the election.

“International [election] observers have to pay more attention to the issues rather than driving a car round sightseeing,” he said. “We don’t have faith in the government appeal.”

Today is the first official day of the one month election campaign.

Sam Rainsy urges for more foreign observers to come to Cambodia

16 Feb 2008
By Sok Serey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy urged the International community to send as many foreign observers to Cambodia as it can, in order to ensure a free and fair election in July 2008.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy told RFA that: “I want to see a lot of observers coming, and that they stay here for a long time, not just for a few days and then they all take off. They must come to follow up on the preparation of the election, to follow up on the vote counting, to follow up on the resolution of complaints, and they should come from now on to observe the voters lists, some of the voters were removed from the voter lists.”

This call came at a time when it is learned that only 27 International observers asked the NEC to come to observe the upcoming election.

Tep Nytha, NEC secretary-general, said in reaction to Sam Rainsy’s call that: “We think that, for the preparation of the election, the majority (of the observers) come when the election is close, and more importantly, the number of international observers increased during near the election period.”

Tep Nyhta indicated that, up to now, 3,600 national observers belonging to 15 organizations, and 27 international observers from the NDI and the US embassy in Cambodia, have asked the NEC to observe the upcoming election.

He added that the European Union informed the NEC that it plans to send in a group of observers also, but the NEC did not receive the official request yet.

Besides that, Tep Nytha indicated that there are 44 political parties listed by the Ministry of Interior, and the NEC plans to open the official registration of parties on its list between 28 April and 12 May 2008.

Hang Puthea, NICFEC director, said that his group plans to put to work 120 long-term national observers, and 7,000 short-term observers.

Kul Panha, Comfrel director, indicated that he will put to work 201 long-term national observers, and between 6,500 to 7,000 short-term observers.

Kul Panha said: “We still have problem also, we are still concerned that the atmosphere of the election could be marred by violence, and that a climate of fear may take place, as well as the vote buying.”

The NEC plans to spend a total amount of $17 million to prepare the election which will take place on 27 July 2008. High ranking NEC officials indicated also that it is till short of $4 million to reach the $17 million amount it requires.

1,091 national observers accredited to watch election process of Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- The National Election Committee (NEC) of Cambodia has accredited 1,091 national observers and 27 international observers to observe the 2007 annual voter list revision and registration process for the 2008 general election.

The national observers accredited by NEC come from nine organizations and the international ones from the National Democratic Institute and the Embassy of the United States, said a NEC press release received on Tuesday.

The kingdom's next general election scheduled for July 2008 will renew members of the National Assembly and establish a new government.

Participation of Iraqi observers during the commune election

27 March 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A delegation of 22 people arrived in Cambodia to observe the commune election in Cambodia. The delegation, which also includes 12 Iraqis, arrived in Phnom Penh on 25 March. The delegation plans to observe and learn about the election and the democratic process in Cambodia. The delegation will stay in Cambodia between 25 March and 05 April 2007. The other 10 Japanese election observers belong to the People Forum of Cambodia, an organization based in Tokyo, Japan. The two groups met with high ranking government officials, as well as the leaders of a number of political parties. The delegates will observe the election in Phnom Penh, and in the provinces of Kandal, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Kompong Cham, Svay Rieng, Prey Veng and Siem Reap. The delegation will hold a joint press conference with the Comfrel NGO on 03 April to report its observation work during the election.
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KI-Media note: The Cambodia Daily reported that Abdulkari Hashim, an Iraqi member of the delegation, told reporters, during his visit to the Choeung Ek killing field memorial: “This is a clear message for you (the US) if you go out of Iraq before a government is built. What will happen in Iraq will happen much worse than in Cambodia or in other countries.”