Cambodia's ruling party dominates commune elections [... through rigging]

5 June 2012
ABC

The ruling Cambodian People's Party, the CPP, has once again dominated the country's commune elections, with early results showing it has won about 97 percent of commune chief positions.

There are 1,633 communes in Cambodia and control at this level gives leaders a great deal of localised influence over citizens and state money - something important for next year's national elections.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane

Speaker: Koul Panha, the Executive Director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, COMFREL

Click the control below to listen to the audio program

Click here to download the audio in MP3

Little Decentralization, Despite Local Elections: Monitor

Koul Panha, Executive Director of The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL). (Photo: Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer)

Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, D.C

“For example, on the issue of development, when a charity wants to contact us, they must go through the national level.”

Even as local elections approach, election monitors say the process of decentralization has been too slow and will continue to be an obstacle to the country’s development.

Even though there was been “some” political and administrative decentralization, all finance is still tightly controlled by the central government, said Koul Panha, executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections. This makes it hard for local leaders to move their own initiatives, he said.

Cambodians are preparing for local elections on Sunday, when they will choose members of their commune councils.

Names Missing from Voter Rolls

Commune councilors cast votes in the Senate election, Jan. 29, 2012 (RFA)

Cambodians are finding themselves left off voter lists or unable to register ahead of commune elections.

2012-05-10

RFA

At least 1.5 million Cambodians will lose their right to vote in upcoming commune elections due to irregularities in voters’ registration lists, according to an election monitoring organization.

Koul Panha, executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel), said some 1.5 million people who had voted in the 2002 and 2007 commune elections no longer have their names on voter lists ahead of the June 3 polls.

“This is a big issue—we can’t find their names. The names have been incorrectly changed,” he said.

“This is an information crisis. We are really concerned.”

Cambodian winner of 'Asia's Nobel' pushes forward in fight for fair vote

AGAINST THE ODDS: Koul Panha heads the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia.

11/09/2011
Achara Ashayagachat
Bangkok Post

''The near-monopoly on broadcast media for the ruling Cambodian People's Party's, bias within the electoral apparatus, and harassment, intimidation, and coerced defections of opposition party members undermines the credibility of the national elections'' - Human Rights Watch report

Cambodian democracy activist Koul Panha knows his country is still a long way from having a credible electoral process. But having witnessed the horrors of what can happen in the absence of a functioning democracy _ his father and relatives were murdered by the Khmer Rouge when he was eight years old _ he is passionate about working towards that goal.

Koul Panha was named late last month as one of six recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Dubbed ''Asia's Nobel Prize'', the award was established in 1957 in memory of the former Philippine president and recognises exemplary public service within democratic societies in Asia. Koul Panha is the third Cambodian to receive the award.

He was in Bangkok recently to celebrate receiving the award at a function hosted by his colleagues in the Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel).

The executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections (Comfrel), an organisation that aims to promote fairness and transparency in Cambodian elections and educate voters, says a belief in the importance of equality drives him in his work.

''It's in our religion, it's in our culture that individuals have equal rights and freedoms. It's not just a Western value, but a universal principle that we also cherish human dignity,'' said Koul Panha.

Vigilance doesn’t end on election day, Cambodian reformer says

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gq9C36tFdjA

09/07/2011
PATERNO ESMAQUEL II, GMA News

This year, six awardees from different parts of Asia take center stage in the annual Ramon Magsaysay Awards, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize, to serve as models of leadership and service. In this series, GMA News Online asks each awardee: What can the Philippines learn from your story?

The father of Koul Panha, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee from Cambodia, was killed by the authoritarian regime in his country when he was eight, in a political environment not unlike the previous dictatorship in the Philippines.

Koul’s father was killed in 1976, along with over one-fifth of Cambodia’s population, under the oppressive Khmer Rouge regime. That was also around the time the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law, resulting in widespread human rights violations.

‘Youth can enforce democracy’

Koul Panha

Monday, August 29th, 2011
By Kristine Felisse Mangunay
Philippine Daily Inquirer

He was only 8 years old when his father, a clerk at Cambodia’s Supreme Court, was killed by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

Thirty-five years after that murder, some of the leaders of the murderous regime are on trial for war crimes while the boy has become a fighter for democracy—one of this year’s winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards, dubbed Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize.

Though decades have passed since his father was killed, Koul Panha has not forgotten. He was on the verge of tears when he spoke of those dark times in his country during an interview with the Inquirer at the weekened.

Koul’s father was picked up by soldiers of the Khmer Rouge in 1976 and ordered to gather beans.

“My father knew that he would be faced with great danger. After a few days, I received information from the villagers that he was killed,” Koul said.

“The senior villagers told me that my father did not let the Khmer Rouge guards and soldiers kill him easily as he fought back.”

The image of how his father must have died has remained indelible in Koul’s mind. It taught him the value of democracy.

KOUL Panha - ED of COMFREL, to Deliver a Public Lecture on 2 September 2011

http://www.box.net/shared/dz6vcs81iae5jevopf0c

‘Free and Fair’ Criteria Elude Elections: Monitor

Koul Panha, left, the executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, told “Hello VOA” that the country has continued to struggle since it’s first election, in 1993. (Photo: by Heng Reaksmey)

Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“There are so many irregularities and so much fear.”

Cambodia’s election process has failed to live up to international standards of “free and fair,” a leading monitor said Monday.

Koul Panha, the executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, told “Hello VOA” that the country has continued to struggle since it’s first election, in 1993, with voter intimidation, an uneven playing field for non-ruling party candidates and other problems.

“There are so many irregularities and so much fear,” said Koul Panha, who is to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award in the Philippines later this month.

Each election cycle has also seen a decrease in the debate of “political issues,” he said.

Cambodian awarded ‘Nobel prize’ of Asia

Koul Panha (2nd from Left)

Friday, 29 July 2011 15:01
Daniel Sherrell
Phnom Penh Post

Cambodian citizen Koul Panha has been awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, often referred to as Asia’s Nobel peace prize, for his work with the Committee for Free and Fair Elections.

He is one of six people to receive this year’s award, which will be presented to them at a ceremony in Manila on August 31.

He is being recognised for “his determined and courageous leadership of the sustained campaign to build an enlightened, organised and vigilant citizenry who will ensure fair and free elections – as well as demand accountable governance by their elected officials – in Cambodia’s nascent democracy”, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation said.

KOUL Panha - ED of COMFREL, Receive Asia's Premier Prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award

Dear all,

The Executive Director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL), Mr. KOUL Panha, is being recognied for his work by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF).

Please see the attached file for details.

Best regards,

COMFREL

Congratulations to Comfrel's Koul Panha, a recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards

Koul Panha (2nd from Left) during a Voice of Civil Society boradcast (Photo: Koul Panha)

Winners of Asia’s Version of Nobel Prize Revealed

Thursday, July 28th, 2011
Voice of America

Two Indian philanthropists and a Philippine non-profit development organization are among the winners of the Philippines prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards.

The annual awards, named after a popular Philippine president who was killed in a plane crash in 1957, are widely seen as Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prizes.

Harish Hande, a U.S. trained engineer and entrepreneur, was cited by the foundation that administers the awards for his passionate and pragmatic efforts” to provide affordable solar power to over one million poor and rural Indians.

Nileema Mishra has established a center that provides small loans to farmers, plus self-help projects for small villages.

The Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, based in the central Philippine province of Negros Occidental, was also cited for its work in combating rural poverty. The organization has introduced an environmentally-friendly pumping system that provides villages easy access to clean water.

Other winners of the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Awards include Cambodian Koul Panha, the founder of a group that advocates for free and fair elections in his country's nascent democracy; Indonesian entrepreneur Tri Mumpuni, who has built community-run hydropower plants in rural communities; and her compatriot Hasanain Juaini, who has established an Islamic boarding school for girls.

The winners will receive a medallion and cash prize at an awards ceremony in the Philippines on August 31.

------------
CITATION for Koul Panha

Ramon Magsaysay Award Presentation Ceremonies
31 August 2011, Manila, Philippines

In many places in the world today, citizens are engaged in a historic struggle to democratize their societies, often under conditions of extreme difficulty and danger. One such place is Cambodia. The country was traumatized by decades of war and the genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge, which left 1.7 million Cambodians dead. Cambodia took its first step to establishing a "multi-party liberal democracy" when it proclaimed a new constitution and embarked on its first democratic elections in 1993. Cambodians have gone through five national and local elections since then. But democracy's progress has been slow and turbulent, and elections have been undermined by factionalism, fraud, violence, and the threat of a return to authoritarian rule. Many know that the central challenge is for Cambodians to claim the electoral process as their own, by protecting it as an instrument for building a democracy. One of those who has bravely stepped up to this challenge is a Cambodian engineer named Koul Panha.

Panha knew firsthand what brutalities are possible in the absence of a true democracy. He was eight years old when his father and relatives were killed by the Khmer Rouge. The indescribable trauma impelled him to dedicate himself to changing his society. He finished his university degree, taught in Phnom Penh, and was already involved in the human rights movement even in the time of the dictatorship. When Cambodia embarked on its first free elections in 1993, he joined the non-partisan "Task Force on Cambodian Elections," and was one of the organizers when this task force became the Committee for Free and Fair Elections (COMFREL) in 1997. Panha assumed the role of COMFREL executive director in 1998; returning home after earning a master's degree in the Politics of Alternative Development, he threw himself fulltime into COMFREL's mission of assuring that Cambodian elections are free and fair.

Under his leadership, COMFREL has become the country's leading independent organization on electoral issues. It aggressively campaigns for responsible voting and electoral reforms, using all available media. In protecting the 2008 electoral process, COMFREL and its partners trained and deployed over 10,000 volunteers, covering 95% of the country's polling stations. For the first time in Cambodia, a citizens' parallel "quick count" initiated by COMFREL helped forestall the manipulation of results by establishing voting trends three days after the elections. They have also proactively campaigned for the wider political participation of women, who constitute half of Cambodia's population, a campaign that has seen an increase of women in public office.

Based in Phnom Penh, COMFREL maintains a nationwide network of partners and has mobilized, since its inception, over 50,000 election volunteers; more than 150,000 Cambodians have participated in COMFREL's training programs, workshops and other activities. This is an impressive show of civic participation in a democracy still so young. Even more significant is how COMFREL has gone beyond elections--into post-election issues of governance. It actively lobbies for reforms in matters like election campaign finance and the national budget. In 2003 it initiated "Parliamentary Watch," which monitors the performance of legislators and officials using benchmarks and concrete indicators in grading government performance at both local and national levels. COMFTREL's monitoring reports are publicly disseminated.

Democracy in Cambodia remains fragile, and the situation complex and dangerous. Panha has experienced harassment, and he knows he has to walk a tightrope for COMFREL to continue doing its work. But despite the fears of friends and family, he remains committed to using every inch of democratic space to empower his people in building a homeland that is democratic and free. Recalling the tragic experience of Cambodians and his own family, the soft-spoken Panha says: "I think Cambodia has suffered enough. This pushes me to do something as a citizen of Cambodia, to make sure the suffering does not happen again."

In electing Koul Panha to receive the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes his determined and courageous leadership of the sustained campaign to build an enlightened, organized and vigilant citizenry who will ensure fair and free elections--as well as demand accountable governance by their elected officials--in Cambodia's nascent democracy.

Group Monitors More Than Just Elections

By Pin Sisovann, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
01 September 2009

With voter turnout falling from 85 percent in 1993 to 60 percent in general elections last year, the Committee for Free and Fair Elections has expanded its scope, moving beyond elections and choosing to monitor promises made by politicians in campaigns.

Koul Panha, executive director of Comfrel, recently expressed his worries that politicians have been breaking their promises, such as gender equity, attacking drug abuse, deforestation, land grabbing and theft, or improving fisheries rights, good governance, education, development or poverty reduction.

To ensure voters feel their ballots have value, Comfrel has been organizing public forums, including discussions and question and answer sessions among citizens and council members for communes, districts and cities or provinces.

Previous forums with lawmakers, he said, have unfortunately seen low attendance by lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, so the group changed to council members, even though they are not directly elected by voters.

“We reduced it, and changed to seminars to get lawmakers to participate,” he said in a recent interview.

Hun Neng, CPP governor of Kompong Cham province and brother of Prime Minister Hun Sen, said lawmakers were too busy working on their promises to take part in Comfrel forums.

“CPP officials are doers,” he said. “They don’t just pay lip service. We make canals, build pagodas and schools, dig clean water wells, and so on.”

He acknowledged that forums between the public and officials were important, but he said council members were doing a good job of listening to voter requests and discussing with them development plans.

“NGOs have asked permission for public forums between voters and lawmakers,” he said. “Well, they are very important. Many forums have been organized now and then.”

Penn Saroeun, a coordinator for public forums in Pursat province, said voters enjoyed the meetings.

“I organize them and people join them like a landslide,” he said. “They support the program. They are very happy with it. In forums, voters ask councilors what they have promised. What have they done? What failed, and why?”

Generally, he said, lawmakers fail to meet their promises because they work more for their own party than their constituents. However, he said, the CPP has done a better job on its promises.

“The ruling party has power all over the province,” he said. “They can do what they wish. The opposition can only help, for example in land grabs, help people file complaints. They try to help and do their best.”

Por Ham, a council member for Bat Kandoul commune, Krakor district, Pursat, said the public forums were crucial for transparency and good governance.

“People saw destruction which was cracked down but the offenders were not arrested and convicted. Seeing not law enforcement, they raised the issues at the forums, reporting someone did such and such.”

Comfrel lets voters decide the topics of the forums for issues in the communities, though it does at times set the agenda for women’s issues.

“We’ve seen that women’s issues are critical and take place in every community, particularly domestic violence, sexual abuse and women’s participation in health and education,” Koul Panha said. “We encourage discussion on women’s issues in particular.”

Lon Sithann, a coordinator for public forums in Preah Vihear province, said the forums she organizes focus on such issues, including gender inequality.

“We want more women candidates, up to 30 percent, to encourage them,” she said. “Political parties list women candidates lower on the list. Boys go to school more than girls, so far. Girls quit school at grade seven or eight at most. Parents want them to do house work.”

Public forums help women understand their rights better and help them report violence and abuse, she said.

The forums also help people understand land title laws and instruct them on how to solve land disputes through mediation at the local official level, rather than taking them to the courts, which are perceived as corrupt and unfair, Koul Panha said.

So far, they’ve prepared 300 forums.

“The core mission remains a free and fair election, but we expanded our operation to have election results that are meaningful to voters,” Koul Panha said. “We believe and hope people will continue to go to polling stations, seeing that their participation in elections is meaningful.”

“I think all political parties can use Preah Vihear as a means of attracting voters, but no one party or group should get the credit alone”:Koul Panha

Monks in Phnom Penh celebrate Preah Vihear’s inscription as a World Heritage Site, July 9. Since Monday’s decision by UNESCO to list Preah Vihear temple as a Cambodian World Heritage Site, the Kingdom’s nationalist rapture has subsided just enough to allow for more pragmatic thoughts of the pay-off. (Photo: VANDY RATTANA)

Preah Vihear card in play following UNESCO listing

Friday, 11 July 2008
Written by Kay Kimsong and Thet Sambath
The Phnom Penh Post

Senior Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yeap said July 10 that he expected the listing of the 11th-century Hindu temple, which had long been hotly disputed by Thailand, to result in a major boon for the ruling party in the July 27 general election.

“I am at Prey Veng near the Vietnam border right now. We told the voters of the success of Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen,” he told the Post.

Yeap said Hun Sen deserved credit for the world body’s decision because he had sent a letter to UNESCO requesting the designation six years ago.

“There is no doubt that Samdech Hun Sen is a CPP leader,” he boasted.

Yeap said Prey Veng residents, particularly farmers, were showing their support for the CPP and were elated and proud of their premier, as was he.

“I cried in front of my wife once I heard UNESCO had made a decision on the temple.”

Khmer-language newspapers this week featured numerous advertisements placed by CPP officials, congratulating Hun Sen, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and CPP President Chea Sim on the world body’s decision.

However, Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, a Cambodian election monitor, questioned any exclusive claim to ownership of the temple victory and discouraged politicization of the site.

“I think all political parties can use Preah Vihear as a means of attracting voters, but no one party or group should get the credit alone,” he said.

“I think Preah Vihear temple is the pride of all Cambodians, as well as the political parties…. If only one party makes political gains off of Preah Vihear temple, I am afraid there will be an internal dispute that will lead to different attitudes about the temple.”

Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay downplayed the ruling party’s hand in resolving the dispute with Thailand over ownership of the territory surrounding the temple, which for years had been the most significant obstacle to its listing.

“It is the normal obligation of a government to do this. It was not the special job of the CPP,” Chhay said.

Cambodia’s tourism sector, on the other hand, is less concerned with political points.

Ho Vandy, president of the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents, said on July 8 that 162 tour operators have begun promotion plans for package tours of Cambodia’s expanding heritage corridor. They will advertise in about 100 countries.

Vandy said the proposed package includes stops at Angkor Wat, Koh Ker temple in western Preah Vihear province, Preah Vihear temple, and Wat Phu, another Khmer temple in Laos.

But the immediate concern, Vandy said, should be developing Cambodia’s overland routes to Preah Vihear, which at present are rutted and jarring, making the temple far more accessible from the nearby Thai border.

Then restaurants, hotels and shops will follow, he said.

Minster of Tourism Thong Khon agreed, saying that there eventually will be four roads leading to the temple and at least one key artery will be completed by next year.

“I already sent a letter to the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation to push for the road construction,” he said.

The first sign of things to come actually preceded UNESCO’s decision; in May the newly formed Preah Vihear National Authority, or PVNA, deployed 22 heritage police.

Hang Soth, director of the PVNA, a commission under the Council of Ministers, said the heritage police are charged with protecting the site from looting and vandalism.

He also said that the Thai border crossing at Preah Vihear will remain closed until Thai nationalist fervor simmers down, a worry he blamed on opposition activists in Bangkok.

“We respect our neighbor and the neighboring nation respects us,” he said.

But in Thailand, bruised nationalism remains unappeased, and the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is suffering from the fallout.

On July 10, Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama stepped down after the Constitutional Court ruled that he had acted illegally in signing an agreement supporting Cambodia’s bid to have Preah Vihear temple listed as a World Heritage Site without the permission of parliament.

His move had been approved by Samak’s cabinet, which the court also decided had violated the Thai Constitution in acting without parliamentary consent, a verdict that observers said could lead to a major cabinet reshuffle.

In his emotional resignation speech, Noppadon maintained he had acted in good faith in signing the agreement with Cambodia.

“I insist I have done nothing wrong. I have not sold the country out. I love Thailand, and would not cause any damage to the country.”

Former King Norodom Sihanouk has responded to Thai critics of the deal, saying that those claiming parts of the temple are in Thailand, including the main entrance, ignore “historic facts” and were bent on sabotaging Cambodian-Thai relations.

Meanwhile in Preah Vihear province, the party rages on.

“We have danced for three nights and we will continue,” Ley Eang, proprietress of a coffee shop near the temple site, said.

“We are excited with the temple’s registration. We expect it to bring more tourists and investors who will improve people’s living conditions here.”

Preap Tan, provincial governor of Preah Vihear, said he had overseen a massive celebratory ceremony the morning of July 10 that drew upwards of 5,000 people to T’beng Meanchey, the provincial capital.

“People have danced every night and held ceremonies everyday. No one told them to. They do it themselves,” he said.

“We will have fireworks for the next three nights and cheer the temple.”

Mussomeli: Election likely to be peaceful and orderly ... Kem Sokha: CPP continues to buy off activists and buy votes

US Ambassador Expects Peaceful Elections

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
13 June 2008

Click here to listen to the audio program in Khmer

US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli expects a peaceful transition of power following free and fair elections in July.

Critics maintain that the ruling party continues to buy off or otherwise persuade activists from competing parties and to buy votes through gifts to the poor.

Mussomeli told VOA Khmer in Washington the election was likely to be peaceful and orderly.

That may be true, but the ruling party continues to buy off activists and buy votes through gifts to the poor, Kem Sokha, president of the Human Rights Party said.

"The ruling party is buying or persuading the other political parties’ activists or offering gifts to poor people in the rural countryside in order to get their ballots,” he said. "Since my Human Rights Party was established, I've received so many threatening cases and more than 200 party signs were abolished."

Om Yintieng, a senior advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen, said Cambodia's political environment had gotten "better and better" since elections in 1993.

"I don't think it can satisfy everybody in the world, but we are proud for our country to be able to improve the election process," he said.

Koul Panha, executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, said he was concerned for the election process, which has already seen eight murders and 20 cases of intimidation.

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.

Election Watchdog Discusses Parliamentary Expansion on 'Hello VOA'

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
28/05/2007

Koul Panha, executive director of the election watchdog Comfrel, told "Hello VOA" Monday that increasing the number of seats in the National Assembly could have improved the representation of the Cambodian people.

With 123 parliamentarians in the National Assembly, each one represents 100,000 people, compared to a one-to-40,000 ratio when the government began, Koul Panha said.

More seats would fall in line with the law and lower the ratio, he said, discounting the opinion that the addition of seven more parliamentarians would add a strain to the national budget.

Several callers suggested parliamentarians don't do enough to help their constituents, especially where land-grabs by the wealthy are concerned.

The National Assembly was more active now than it has been in the past, Koul Panha said, but it needed to do more.

The National Assembly is an important part of a system of checks and balances that prevents the executive branch of the government from doing whatever it wants, he said.

One caller said, given the state of the National Assembly, adding more seats would be useless.