SRP CALLS FOR DEMOCRATIC SELECTION OF VILLAGE CHIEFS
Following instructions recently issued by the Interior Ministry, Cambodia’s 1,621 commune councils -- which have been elected since 2002 -- are going to select village chiefs and deputy village chiefs for some 13,000 villages all over the country over the next few weeks.
The opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) would have preferred the holding of an election in each village so as to allow villagers to directly elect their village chief. The SRP will continue to push for true democracy and effective decentralization, especially after the forthcoming commune council elections scheduled for April 2007.
Under the present circumstances, the SRP suggests that the following principles be respected for the selection of village chiefs and their deputies:
The opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) would have preferred the holding of an election in each village so as to allow villagers to directly elect their village chief. The SRP will continue to push for true democracy and effective decentralization, especially after the forthcoming commune council elections scheduled for April 2007.
Under the present circumstances, the SRP suggests that the following principles be respected for the selection of village chiefs and their deputies:
- The rights of the minority must be respected as in any democracy.
- The spirit of national reconciliation and national union must prevail at the grassroots level as at the national level.
- Fairness requires that for each commune, village chief positions be attributed to each political party in proportion to the number of commune councilors the concerned party has in the commune council in that particular commune.
- Good cooperation based on a system of checks and balances at the very grassroots level requires that in any village, the positions of chief and deputy chiefs be equitably shared among representatives from all the political parties that have seats in the corresponding commune council.
For all the communes where there is a majority of commune councilors from the SRP -- including Cambodia’s largest commune Poipet with a population of over 100,000 -- our party will strictly abide by the above principles.
In Poipet commune (Banteay Meanchey province, on the border with Thailand), there are 11 villages and the commune council is made up of 11 councilors: 5 from the SRP, 4 from the CPP, and 2 from Funcinpec. The SRP is proposing the following allocation of village chief positions: 5 for the SRP, 4 for the CPP, and 2 for Funcinpec. In the 5 villages with a chief from the SRP, there will be a deputy chief from the CPP and another deputy chief from Funcinpec.
In Poipet commune (Banteay Meanchey province, on the border with Thailand), there are 11 villages and the commune council is made up of 11 councilors: 5 from the SRP, 4 from the CPP, and 2 from Funcinpec. The SRP is proposing the following allocation of village chief positions: 5 for the SRP, 4 for the CPP, and 2 for Funcinpec. In the 5 villages with a chief from the SRP, there will be a deputy chief from the CPP and another deputy chief from Funcinpec.
SRP Cabinet
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