Parties merge to ‘eliminate poverty’

Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

The Khmer Anti-Poverty Party announced a three-party merger yesterday – and indicated an interest in future mergers with other political parties – at its national convention in Kandal province’s Takhmao town.

Speaking in front of an estimated 1,000 supporters, KAPP president Daran Kravanh, who lives in the US, said the KAPP would merge with the Society of Justice Party and the Democratic Society Party ahead of next year’s national elections.

He also indicated an interest in merging with the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party.

“We are merging to eliminate poverty,” he said.

“Today we have three parties coming together, tomorrow we might have the Sam Rainsy Party and Kem Sokha’s party [the Human Rights Party],” he said.

The candidate jokingly made reference to merging with the Cambodian People’s Party, if it ever wanted to be “released from Vietnam’s control”.

When contacted yesterday, senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said “we are not under Vietnamese control”.

Is Daran Kravanh a New Hope for Cambodia and the Khmer People or a Misleading Demagogue?

Daran Kravanh (Center)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Opinion by Kravan Issara

The 1997 coup d’état by forces loyal to Hun Sen and the CPP that overthrew Prime Minister Ranariddh of the Funcinpec Party made Hun Sen the Prime Minister and the CPP the sole political party in Cambodia.

Since then, there has been no political party able to bring hope to the Khmer people of unseating Hun Sen and the CPP. During the dictatorship of the last 30 years, Cambodia has seen more and more Vietnamese settlers in Cambodia, from Bavet (on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border) to Poipet (on the Cambodian-Thai border).

Where are the other political parties – the Funcinpec party, the NRP, and the Sam Rainsy party? They are dying out due to internal problems.

Recently, a new political party was born, the “Khmer Anti-Poverty Party” (with the acronyme KAPP). Daran Kravanh is the President and Sophin Ourn is the Vice-President of the KAPP.

2 Cambodian parties make alliance before general election

PHNOM PENH, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Two small political parties in Cambodia, the Khmer Anti-Poverty Party (KAP) and the Justice Society Party (JSP) announced Monday that they agreed to make an alliance before the general election on July 27.

"We will both get benefit from this alliance because we could get more votes and have more seats in the parliamentary election," KAP President Krovagn Darorn told reporters.

"We will help each other in this election campaign," he added.

"We have similar political platforms. Therefore we could reach this alliance agreement," JSP President Ban Sophal said.

Long Rith, president of the Khmer Republican Party (KRP) also showed to make alliances.

"Up to now, we have not put all things on the table to discuss and I do not refuse to do so," he said.

Cambodia will conduct the parliamentary election on July 27, in which all 11 parties will compete for 123 seats in the National Assembly.

Two Minor Parties Invite All Parties to Unify

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
07 July 2008

The Society of Justice and Khmer Anti-Poverty parties on Monday made a public invitation for the country's nine other parties to join them for the upcoming election.

"I urge you, the small parties and big parties, come and join us," Kravanh Daran, president of the Khmer Anti-Poverty Party, said Monday. "I want you to unify. This is the sample of unity of our country. Please be brave and stand up, go forward to reach our beautiful destiny. I would like all of you to come together."

Both parties announced they would officially join together to help each other's candidates.

"After the political alliance, we can get more support from the voters," Ban Sophal, president of the Society of Justice Party, said. "And from now on, we cannot lose our voters."

Officials of the Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties said Monday they were not concerned with such unity, but with their separate political campaigns.

The Society of Justice and Khmer Anti-Poverty parties are both running on platforms of unity, claiming Monday that "Cambodia was once a large and well-known country but now it is small and un-unified" and calling the country's leaders to "work together" for Cambodians, "who are awaiting unity."

Three Small Parties Consider Alliance

By Win Thida, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 July 2008

The Khmer Anti-Poverty Party and the Society of Justice Party have agreed to help each other in an "alliance" during the campaign, and a third, the Khmer Republican Party is considering joining them, party officials said Tuesday.

Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, said Tuesday such an alliance was unlikely to sway the outcome of the election.

However, party leaders said they hoped to bolster each other's efforts in provinces where one party was not represented but could still support another.

Three political parties merge before the election

Monday, June 30, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Three small political parties plan to merge with each other at the beginning of July, in order to be ready for the election. The Cambodia Daily quoted Daran Kravanh of the Anti-Poverty Party as saying that the Anti-Poverty Party will merge with the Social Justice Party and the Khmer Republican Party, in order to unite their force. Daran Kravanh said that the three parties will sign this merger agreement on 07 July. Lon Rith, head of the Khmer Republican Party, claimed on Sunday that his party agreed on this merger on Friday. Ban Sophal, Social Justice Party president, also said on Sunday that his party agrees to this merger and that it will participate in the ceremony held on 07 July. Hang Puthea, executive director for Comfrel, also said on Sunday that he is confident that this merger is a good thing for the smaller parties. He added that if these parties are still not united, then they will not be successful

Printing of voting ballots costs $1.6 million

Photo: Pring Samrang, Cambodge Soir Hebdo

11 June 2008
By Leang Delux
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Election observers accompanied by the National Election Committee (NEC) officials visited the shop printing voting ballots. Some criticisms and observations were made.

On Wednesday 11 June, representatives of 11 political parties, election observers and journalists were invited to visit the shop printing the voting ballots for the upcoming July general election. The group was able to learn about the different aspects of the ballot printing by the Ly Van Hong printing shop in Phnom Penh which also printed the ballots for the commune election in 2007. 10,454,400 ballots will be printed at a cost of $1.6 million.

Those invited to attend the visit were able to see firsthand the print shop. However, cameras and cell phones were not allowed inside. A firefighting truck and some cops were present at the shop, they are standing guard permanently on the spot to insure the security of the building.

The NEC logo appears on each voting ballot, as well as the vote precinct code number and a message explaining how to check mark the selected party during the vote. A table provides a list of the parties, their respective number, logo, name and the box to check. Parties not presenting candidates in a particular precinct do not appear on the table, and only a shaded line marks its name on the ballot.

Kuoy Bunroeun, a SRP observer and MP, protested to the NEC officials about the quality of the paper used. Comparing them to those used in the 1993 election organized by UNTAC, Kuoy Bunroeun noted that “the paper used by UNTAC was special, and if it was photocopied, the logos and codes would not show up clearly on the copies. Here, it seems to me that the paper is ordinary and this concerns me. Furthermore, this print shop is linked to the ruling party. All the government paper works are printed here also.” Tep Nitha, NEC secretary-general, defended against these accusations. According to Tep Nitha, the ballots bear special marks: “I am sorry, I cannot talk about these confidential issues,” he said.

Ou Chanrath, HRP secretary-general, noted that the NEC should ask for an agreement from all the parties before printing these ballots.

A representative of the Anti-poverty party protested against the elimination of the name of parties not presenting candidates in a precinct. “You should have kept the name and the number of the party, because this gives the impression that you are forcing voters to choose among some of the parties which they do not necessarily like.” Tep Nitha immediately retorted: “I don’t understand you. How do you want us to include a party which is not presenting candidates in a precinct?”

Im François, an observer for the Center for Social Development (CSD), who was present among the visitors, made two observations: first, the print shop is isolated and located in a quiet area. Next, the number of extra ballots printed is too high. “The NEC prints 2 million ballots more than the number of voters,” he noted before adding that the CSD will send out about 100 observers during the election, and it will also distribute 500,000 guides for educating the voters about their civic duty for the election.

Khmer Anti-Poverty party held its first congress

Monday, March 31, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The Khmer Anti-Poverty Party, a new political party that not many know its name, held its first congress in Phnom Penh in the morning of 29 March 2008. Daran Kravanh, the party president is a Cambodian-American citizen. He said that Cambodians have suffered poverty for too long, therefore, Cambodians should receive a new life through real US-like democracy so that they may lead a prosperous life. Daran Kravanh said that the current Cambodian society suffers all kinds of poverty: poverty from joblessness, poverty from lack of justice, poverty from their inability to decide their own destiny. He told reporters that if his party wins the election to lead the country, he will add 4 more ministries to serve the people: the ministry of social welfare to provide money to people to buy food and to provide health insurance, the anti-corruption ministry, the ministry for handicap people, and the ministry of labor. He said that his party would win the election if the National Election Committee (NEC) works properly and fairly, however, he said that he had no confidence that the NEC could do it.