Foreigners banned from election campaign

15 March 2009
By Ung Chamroeun
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

The National Election Committee (NEC) just issued an announcement indicating that non-Khmer citizens will no longer be allowed to join the election campaign.

The news was revealed by the NEC during a press conference held during the end of last week. Foreigners will no longer be able to take part in an election campaign. Tep Nitha, NEC secretary-general, justified this decision: “In the past, non-Cambodian personalities gave public speeches to say nonsense and to defame (others).” As a result, the NEC has received several complaints. However, short of any legal framework, Tep Nitha wants to put an end this gray issue. He explained that this ban does not apply to the Cambodian diaspora, nor does it apply to foreigners detaining Cambodian citizenship.

The upcoming election will be held on 17 May. It will be held to elect municipal, provincial, cities and districts councils. The post-election period will start on 01 May and will end on 15 May. According to the NEC, only four parties are represented: the CPP, the SRP, Funcinpec and the NRP. The ruling CPP party is presenting candidates in all 217 wards in the country, the SRP in 205, Funcinpec in 71 and the NRP in 64. The ballot will be indirect. Those who will be able to vote are members of the commune councils. Several NGOs, among them feature important ones, have declined to send in observers, claiming the outcome is already known beforehand. Up to now, only two NGOs with 61 investigators have registered with the NEC.

Comfrel report blasts council elections scheduled for May [-Election: Hun Sen's strategy to fool donor countries one more time?]

Friday, 27 February 2009
Written by Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

FUNDING THE VOTE

The 2008 general election cost $16.8 million and accommodated roughly 8.1 million voters. The council elections scheduled for May will cost $1.5 million but will only accommodate 11,353 voters, according to the National Election Committee.

In a new report, the election watchdog argues that the polls will not be of interest to the average voter and will also be too expensive.

THE Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) on Thursday issued a report criticising the upcoming council elections scheduled for May, in which the group says the polls will hold no interest for the general public, which is not allowed to vote in them, and will therefore prove largely meaningless.

The report states that the elections will be relevant only to the political parties that won council seats in 2007's commune council elections.

May's council elections will see the country's 11,353 commune councillors vote to determine the representation of their respective parties at the higher-level district councils and the municipal and provincial councils.

The election process is part of the government's strategy to devolve power to fill the gap between representation at the local and national levels.

Under the council election law, councillors may not vote for any individual of their choosing but instead must vote for one of the candidates put up by each party represented in that commune. That, said Comfrel Executive Director Koul Panha, means the system is flawed.

No real ballot choice

The report points out what it regards as another problem: Because commune councillors were appointed to the ballot list by their respective parties, and thereby won their posts, they need to serve that party's interests. For that reason, Comfrel states, they are unlikely to vote for the candidate of another party - even if they want to.

"So in reality, they will simply vote for their own party, although some could be bought off by other parties," the report states.

Cost concerns

The report also argues that the cost per voter will far exceed the cost per voter in the 2008 general election. The general election cost US$16.8 million for around 8.1 million voters. According to the National Election Committee (NEC), which manages the country's polls, the vote in May will cost $1.5 million for 11,353 voters - more than 50 times as much per voter.

NEC Secretary General Tep Nytha said the law requires his organisation to run the council poll but acknowledged the cost will be much higher per voter and said this is due to the logistics required for the vote.

"In the national election, we would have one ballot box in each office," he said. "But in the council election, we have two ballot boxes and two voting forms because councillors are voting for the district level and the provincial level."

New elections planned for 2009

29 October 2008
By Ung Chamroeun
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the article in French

A first for the Cambodian election system: the setup of election for local councils – which is supposed to reinforce democratic life in the country – was announced by Hun Sen.

On Sunday 17 May 2009, for the first time, an election will be organized for municipal, provincial, district, municipalities and communes councils in the entire country. According to a communiqué issued by the National Election Committee (NEC), this reform was officially announced by Prime minister Hun Sen on 27 October. According to Tep Nitha, NEC secretary-general, this new election constitutes an important step for the reinforcement of democracy in Cambodia.

Article 4 of the election law for municipal, provincial, municipality, district and commune councils stipulates an election with non-universal suffrage, with indirect and secret balloting. The electoral body will consist only of elected municipal councils (commune chiefs, first and second deputy-commune chiefs, and members of the councils) who were elected in a universal suffrage on 01 April 2007. Currently, the political affiliations of those who can vote for the 2009 election are as follows: 7,993 belonging to the CPP, 2,660 to SRP, 425 to the NRP, 274 to Funcinpec, and 1 to the Hang Dara Movement for Democracy Party.

The kingdom is subdivided into 24 provinces and municipalities, 185 district and 1,621 communes.