Hun Sen warns about the election of village chiefs

Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Prime Minister Hun Sen warned the Sam Rainsy Party not to organize elections for village chiefs. The prime minister said that this would be a violation of the law and that this would not differ from an act of secession. During a speech given at an inauguration of a school in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said: “I heard they want to organize an election for village chiefs, what is that? Do they want to form another sate? How many states does Cambodia have? 30? 40? Nothing has happened yet, they only get to control a commune or sangkat only, and they want to play with election which is against the law of the governance of the commune.” Hun Sen added: “Whatever they do, they must abide by the law. Already they want secede, but they cannot do it, they must follow the law. In any case, they cannot violate the law, if they violate the law by choosing to walk out of the bounds of the law, then it would be another issue that need to be dealt with.”

Mu Sochua: Election of village chief is not illegal

Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

In response to Prime minister Hun Sen’s warning to the Sam Rainsy Party which plans to organize village chief elections, Mrs. Mu Sochua, SRP Secretary-General, said that the election of new village chiefs is neither illegal nor an act of secession. In an interview with Voice of America by phone, Mrs. Mu Sochua said: “In the law on the selection of the commune council, in particular, there is one stipulation in the decentralization process which we can apply, and there is nothing that is illegal or constitutes an act of secession.” She added that the SRP wants to see the election proceeding in a democratic manner from the village chief and up, in order to avoid interference from political parties and this also will guarantee the independence of candidates.

KI-Media note: According to The Cambodia Daily, Mrs. Mu Sochua said that Hun Sen and the Ministry of Interior jumped to conclusions without paying proper attention to SRP’s proposal. She stressed that the SRP has no intention of organizing elections, but that it is promoting for all the commune councils, which are in charge of electing chiefs, to organize democratic elections for the village chief.

To Hun Sen, holding democratic village chief election is an act of secession

Hun Sen Warns Opposition Not to Hold Separate Elections

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
23/04/2007

Prime Minister Hun Sen Monday called Sam Rainsy Party plans to hold separate elections for commune council posts a potential act of secession and warned the opposition party not to proceed illegally.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said last week he planned to hold local-level elections in communes where his party won seats in commune elections April 1.

"I heard they want to hold an election," Hun Sen said in a speech during an opening ceremony at a school in Phnom Penh. "Do they want a secession? How many states does Cambodia have?"

Party officials said the plan was legal, not secessionist.

Sam Rainsy wants to see an election of individual candidates for village chiefs

16 April 2007
By Uk Sav Bory
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy wants to see that village chiefs be elected by villagers from a list of individual candidates, next month, in communes where the opposition party recently won the election.

Sam Rainsy said that the selection of village chiefs through an election held by the villagers among individual candidates would show democracy at work at the lowest level [of government]. It will also avoid the selection of village chiefs by political parties, and it would avoid the selection of village chiefs without any participation from the villagers themselves.

Sam Rainsy said: “In each village, there are elders, pagoda Achar (masters of ceremony), teachers, village elders who are not members of any political party, but they want to present their candidacy to become village chiefs. They are respected by the entire village even though they do not belong to any political party, this should not matter. Therefore, the Sam Rainsy Party will organize an open election, this is true democracy, starting at the village level.”

Regarding the issue raised by Sam Rainsy above, Muth Channtha, NRP spokesman, said that he supports this idea, but he said that the legality issue must be reviewed. “For any election, we must review the law first, [and find out] who has the right to vote for the second mandate village chiefs. We must review the legality aspect thoroughly.”

Nouv Sovathero, Funcinpec spokesman, declined to comment on this issue at this point in time. Cheam Yiep, the CPP MP, gave an interview to a local newspaper saying that the CPP will oppose this plan to elect individuals as village chiefs.

In response to this proposal advanced by Sam Rainsy, Khieu Sopheak, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) spokesman, said that in Cambodia, there is no law that states that newly-elected commune chiefs and sangkat chiefs can choose new village chiefs to replace those who have been chosen last year by the previous mandate commune chiefs.

Khieu Sopheak said: “Villages where we have organized in the past, we have already voted to make the selection already, therefore, they (village chiefs) must fulfill their duty for one mandate, that is not less than 5 years. The (proposed) election in this manner cannot be done, it is not prescribed by the law.”

Kul Panha, executive director of Comfrel, said that the idea advanced by the opposition leader is a good initiative for local level democracy, and people will be able to vote in individual candidates. This type of election will allow villagers to vote in those whom the they like to fulfill their work. Kul Panha said that the MoI should push for a law so as to improve democracy.

Kul Panha said: “In the past, village chiefs have been selected by the commune councils, this brought about a political party bias, and it also creates a lot of problems during the election. Developments are also facing a lot of problems (through this process).”

On 01 April, the SRP won in 28 communes and sangkats out of a total of 1621 in the entire country.

Village Chiefs Govern Like the Khmer Rouge, Sam Rainsy Says

Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17/04/2007

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy Tuesday compared the work of many Cambodian village chiefs to the leaders of the Khmer Rouge.

The chiefs threaten villagers and rule through the same tactics of fear as the Khmer Rouge, he said at a ceremony commemorating the fall of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975.

"The current village chiefs are good at threatening the people and following the Khmer Rouge village chiefs' thinking," Sam Rainsy said. "Most people do not like the current village chiefs."

Some ruling party members took umbrage to the opposition leader's remarks.

"He should investigate every village. If there is suppression in any village, he should go there and ask the people," Phnom Penh's Stung Meanchey district chief, Yin Kith Seng, said. "We reconcile the people. I let the people choose the party. Go ahead and ask around. When something is wrong I say it is wrong. I do not discriminate. Go ahead and ask Sam Rainsy party local officials. They know about me, there is no problem."

Commune elections April 1 unseated some chiefs, including a small increase for the Sam Rainsy Party, but many of the old chiefs, and their old ways, remain.