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Saturday, February 21, 2009

Party factionalism looms behind Ke Kim Yan sacking

Party factionalism looms behind Ke Kim Yan sacking: observers

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN
Kem Sokha, right, and Sam Rainsy at a press conference Wednesday.

Written by SEBASTIAN STRANGIO and THET SAMBATH (Phnom Penh Post)
Thursday, 19 February 2009

Analysts say allegations the deposed army chief was involved in shady land deals are being used to whitewash a purge of the military in line with decades-old internal party disputes

OVERWHELMING success in last year's national election set the stage for a reopening of long-standing factional disputes in the ruling Cambodian People's Party, culminating in the removal of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) Commander-in-Chief General Ke Kim Yan last month, according to some political observers.

According to a leaked document from a January 29 meeting of the Council of Ministers, Ke Kim Yan's removal - which also saw the sacking of military police Deputy Commander General Chhin Chanpor - was "due to reforms in the military based on job performances" and "due to him using his military position to profit from land deals".

But political analysts and military sources say such pretexts are being used to paper over significant power shifts in the ruling party.

"None of these explanations can be taken at face value," said Carlyle A Thayer, a political science professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Sydney.

"The government says Ke Kim Yan's removal was a normal reshuffle, but this is belied by allegations he was involved in shady land deals and was not effective in support of [RCAF] troops during the border dispute with Thailand."

Cold War rivalries
Thayer said that internal disputes within the CPP - pitting one group loyal to Hun Sen against another loyal to party President Chea Sim - have plagued the party on and off for years, but that until recently the two factions had reached a stable modus vivendi.

However, with the defeat of its long-time foe Funcinpec at last year's national election, the party has begun to rearrange itself along the predominant factional fault lines.

"Hun Sen is set for another five years. He faces the problem of what to do with so many CPP deputies who have time on their hands, [which is] fertile ground for a revival of intense factionalism within the CPP," he said.

In the run-up to July's elections, historian David Chandler told the Post that an overwhelming victory of the CPP would be a double-edged sword for the ruling party, since it would "no longer [have] to look over its shoulder at opponents", and could be beset by "over-confidence".

Koul Panha, executive director of election monitor Comfrel, said it was possible that increased power had triggered fresh internal disputes but that it was "too early to say" how success would affect the CPP.

" FOR THE MOMENT, GENERAL POL SAROEUN IS HUN SEN’s STALKING HORSE, [but] GENERAL KUN KIM COULD PROVE TOMORROW’s man. "

But the trigger for the shake-up, according to Thayer, was the death of National Police chief Hok Lundy in a helicopter crash in November, which destabilised the status quo by diluting the power of the police force - a long-time bastion of support for Hun Sen.

"Hok Lundy's death removed one of Hun Sen's staunch loyalists. His passing means that the police may not be as strong a counterfoil to the military as it once was," he said.

"In this context, Hun Sen's move to capture the leadership of the military may be seen as an effort to gain control of another base of power within the political system."

Meanwhile, other observers said the emphasis on Ke Kim Yan's alleged land dealings was merely a way of detracting from the political motivations behind his removal.

Jacques Bakaert, a Belgian journalist who covered Cambodia during the 1990s, said the timing of the removal was a chance for the prime minister's faction to reassert control over the armed forces - previously dominated by Chea Sim loyalists - and that land was merely being used as an excuse.

"It was probably convenient, given the accusations against him, to get rid of him now when there are continuous questions about land grabbing," he said.

One RCAF general, who fought with the anti-Pol Pot resistance in the late 1970s but declined to give his name, told the Post that the removal of Ke Kim Yan for owning land was hypocritical, since "many" military commanders and government officials were involved in the land business.

"It is not right to accuse him alone of being involved in the land business. They have legal and illegal land ... [so] why are they still at the top?" the source said.

Sam Rainsy Party spokesman Yim Sovann agreed, saying that there were many - especially those "loyal to high-ranking officials" - who could potentially be charged with similar offences.

"This is an internal conflict in the CPP. When they are not happy with somebody in the party, they always accuse them of doing the wrong thing," he said. "The law should apply to everybody, not only those who oppose the ruling party."

Ke Kim Yan declined to comment when contacted Monday. Government officials, however, have consistently played down talks that the CPP is beset by factionalism.

Speaking at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs February 6, Prime Minister Hun Sen denied opposition claims of a split in the CPP, saying that "it is the right of the premier to manage and control the military, police and other public administration".
Bun Seng, RCAF commander of Military Region 5, also told the Post that it was not up to him to judge the reasons behind Ke Kim Yan's removal.

"Right or wrong is up to the top leaders to decide," he said.

Purging the military
What is certain, however, is that the replacement of Ke Kim Yan and the appointment of seven new deputy commanders-in-chief, has consolidated the prime minister's control over the upper echelons of the armed forces.

General Pol Saroeun, the new army head, has been a staunch Hun Sen loyalist since he took part in the eastern zone-led revolt against Pol Pot in 1978.

In the mid-1980s, he was appointed party secretary of Takeo Province, where he became an early supporter of Hun Sen's economic reforms and supported the removal of Heng Samrin as party leader.

The other new appointees - including Generals Chea Dara, Mol Roeu, Meas Sophea, Hing Bun Heang, Kun Kim, Ung Samkhan and Sao Sokha - are also known for their loyalty to Hun Sen.

Kun Kim in particular has long stood in the wings, acting in Ke Kim Yan's absence and carrying out personal orders from the premier.

A Phnom Penh source who declined to be named said that the conflicts between Ke Kim Yan and the prime minister began in 1997, during that year's fighting between army factions loyal to the CPP and Funcinpec.

"At that time Hun Sen wanted to use the national military to [fight] Funcinpec, but Ke Kim Yan refused. He didn't think it was the right thing to do," said the source, adding that Ke Kim Yan was "marked" from that point on by his refusal to toe Hun Sen's line.

Kun Kim, on the other hand, played an active role in the suppression of the royalists.

Subsequently, when the prime minister appointed Kun Kim to the RCAF general staff in 1999, observers cast it as a move by the prime minister to tighten his grip on the army, and in an October 2005 speech, Hun Sen pledged to replace Ke Kim Yan with Kun Kim if he did not follow orders to repress a future coup attempt.

"I have been patient for too long.... The armed forces are in my hands," the premier said.
"If Ke Kim Yan does not do it, I will use Kun Kim. Ke Kim Yan has to do it. If not he will be removed."
But Thayer said that the military leadership had not been definitively settled and that more upheavals could yet be in store.

"For the moment General Pol Saroeun is Hun Sen's stalking horse, [but] General Kun Kim could prove tomorrow's man," he said. But he added that the appointment of Meas Sophea, another Hun Sen loyalist, indicates that the PM is "keeping his options open".

"Both men will have to demonstrate their continued loyalty to Hun Sen," he said.

In the meantime, RCAF sources say the removal of Ke Kim Yan - a genuinely popular figure amongst soldiers - was still rippling through the military, where many former colleagues feared removal from their own posts.
"We are sorry for him because we have fought together since the 1980s," the anonymous general said.

"Most of the soldiers today still support Ke Kim Yan in their hearts. But what can we do for him? No one dares to comment about him because they are worried of removal and demotion. One was our commander and one is still our prime minister, so we all have to shut up."

Court denies KE KIM YAN land investigations

STUNG Treng provincial court says it is yet to receive requests to open investigations into land owned by General Ke Kim Yan, despite unconfirmed reports the former army chief owns thousands of hectares in the province. A leaked report from a January 29 meeting of the Council of Ministers revealed Ke Kim Yan had been removed from his post in part for “using his military position to profit from land deals”, recommending he be investigated for land investments in Phnom Penh, Stung Treng and Preah Vihear. But police and court officials denied local media reports that they had been ordered to launch inquiries.

"I am surprised to hear your question that officials and courts in the province are working to investigate land deals involving Ke Kim Yan," said court director Sor Savuth. “I did not get any requests… to investigate this case.” Ke Kim Yan is listed as an advisor on the website of YLP Group Co Ltd, which is developing the Grand Phnom Penh International City satellite as a joint venture with Indonesian firm Ciputra. YLP Group, headed by Ke Kim Yan’s wife Mao Malay, also has planned developments in Preah Sihanouk and Kandal provinces.

THET SAMBATH AND HOR HAB

Labels: CPP, Hu Sen, ke kim yan

Monday, January 26, 2009

Top Military Chief Sacked for Impropriety

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Top Military Chief Sacked for Impropriety: Hun Sen

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
24 January 2009

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday said his decision to remove a top military chief from his position Thursday was due to “land issues” and a dereliction of duties.

Gen. Ke Kim Yan “was conducting his own business” instead of performing his duties as commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, Hun Sen told a weekly Cabinet meeting.

Ke Kim Yan was backing the illegal purchase of land in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district, Kampot province’s Phnom Vor area and sites in the provinces of Banteay Meanchey and Stung Treng, Hun Sen said.

Ke Kim Yan could not be reached for comment Friday. He was removed from his post late Thursday by royal decree following the request of Hun Sen.

Replacing Ke Kim Yan is his deputy, Gen. Pol Saroeun. Also promoted to deputy commanders of RCAF by the royal decree are military intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Mol Roeup, military police commander Lt. Gen. Sao Sokha and the chief of Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit, Lt. Gen. Hing Bun Heang, among others.

Pol Saroeun declined Friday to comment on the removal of Ke Kim Yan, saying it was an internal military matter.

It remained unclear Friday whether Ke Kim Yan would be given another command or remain in the army. Hun Sen told his Cabinet a new position had not yet been considered for the former chief.

The sacking comes as Cambodian continues a months-long military standoff with Thailand on the border of Preah Vihear province.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is scheduled for border talks with his Cambodian counterpart, Hor Namhong, in Phnom Penh Sunday and Monday. Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the removal of Ke Kim Yan would not affect the talks.

Labels: CPP, eviction, hun sen, ke kim yan

Monday, November 17, 2008

General Hok Lundy Was Widely Feared

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General Hok Lundy, Cambodia's Notorious and Brutal Police Chief, He Was Widely Feared

By Tom Fawthrop
The Guardian, Wednesday November 12 2008

General Hok Lundy, Cambodia's notorious police chief and close ally of prime minister Hun Sen, has died at the age of 58 in a helicopter crash. He was travelling from the capital, Phnom Penh, to the south-eastern province of Svay Rieng. None of the helicopter's other occupants - General Sok Saem, deputy commander of the Cambodian infantry, the pilot and co-pilot - survived the crash.

A four-star general and member of the politburo of the ruling CPP (Cambodian People's party), Hok Lundy was a man who inspired fear not only in opposition ranks, but also in members of his own party. Born in Svay Rieng, he first rose to prominence as the governor of Phnom Penh in 1990. Four years later, Hun Sen appointed him national police chief, reporting directly to the prime minister. He never took orders from Sar Kheng, his nominal boss as minister for the interior.

In the aftermath of a bloody power struggle in 1997 between partners in the coalition government, many royalist generals were captured and killed in cold blood. Hok Lundy played a key part in these mopping-up operations and extrajudicial executions. A Funcinpec (royalist) party minister, Ho Sok, was detained at the interior ministry and shot dead by a police unit there. It is known that Sar Kheng had ordered the police to ensure Ho Sok's safety, but Hok Lundy chose to handle things his own way, according to high-ranking sources close to the minister.

This was later confirmed by Heng Pov, the former Phnom Penh police chief, after he fell out with Hok Lundy. While he was on the run from criminal charges stacked against him, Heng Pov accused Cambodia's police supremo and security chief not only of murdering Ho Sok, but also the union leader Chea Vichea and film star Piseth Pilika, in revelations to the French magazine L'Express.

Diplomats in Phnom Penh routinely referred to Hok Lundy as a "thug". This reputation was further enhanced by his role in the burning of the Thai embassy in January 2003. The police chief, who was normally no fan of demonstrators, had permitted anti-Thai protestors to run riot, attacking Thai-owned properties all over Phnom Penh. In the aftermath of this violence he persuaded the prime minister to sack the capital's popular governor, his arch-rival Chea Sophara, as a scapegoat.

That Hun Sen sided with his police chief was no surprise, as Hok Lundy had already married his daughter off to one of Hun Sen's sons, thus consolidating close family ties among Cambodia's clannish ruling elite.

Lundy was also implicated in drug trafficking, the return of refugees to countries where they faced persecution and human trafficking. Two US Drug Enforcement Agency officials and a former unnamed US ambassador to Cambodia confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the US government was aware of Hok Lundy's involvement in drug trafficking. In February 2006, the US State Department's human trafficking office specifically cited Hok Lundy's alleged involvement in human trafficking as grounds for denying him a visa. That decision was linked to a brothel raid in December 2004, after which Hok Lundy reportedly ordered the release within hours of several traffickers, before an investigation could be conducted.

However, after 9/11 the Cambodian government had become cooperative in the war on terrorism. In March 2006, the month after the refusal of a visa, the FBI nonetheless awarded Hok Lundy a medal for his support for the US global war on terrorism, and the US ambassador to Cambodia, Joseph Mussomeli, praised Lundy's cooperation with the US in drug trafficking and human smuggling. State Department officials confirmed at the time that Hok Lundy had been invited to visit the FBI specifically because of his purported cooperation in counterterrorism. When, in April 2007, the FBI invited him to Washington for such discussions, Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, commented: "Hok Lundy's alleged involvement in political violence and organised crime in Cambodia means that the FBI should be investigating him, not hosting him."

The sudden death of a man who had made many enemies has sparked much speculation in Cambodia that the helicopter crash may not have been an accident, despite reports of bad weather. The helicopter caught fire, and the government has promised an investigation. Many people would have cause to celebrate the death of Cambodia's Mr Untouchable.

A French online agency, K-Set, has reported that Chea Mony, the brother
of the slain trade unionist and presidentof the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of Cambodia, has said that the death of the top policeman means that the number of murders of politicians, entertainers and Cambodian reporters will undoubtedly be reduced, but regrets that he was never brought to justice.

Hok Lundy, soldier and police chief, born 1950; died November 9 2008

Labels: American Politics, Chea Vichea, Corruption, CPP, Ho Sok, Hok Lundy, Human Traffic, hun sen, MARCH 30 1997, UN Human Rights Report

Sunday, October 12, 2008

In Cold blood

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In Cold blood: He did not think he had put himself in danger because he did not identify the officer by name,” the source said on condition of anonymity. Several others – all of whom requested anonymity, citing concern for personal security – said that Khim Sambo was writing about Cambodian National Police Commissioner Hok Lundy.

Hok Lundy prior to his departure for a visit to the US (Photo: AFP)

A woman prays in front of a portrait of journalist Khim Sambo, who was murdered along with his son in a Phnom Penh street on July 11. Police, who are being aided by the FBI, say they have no suspects in the case. Photo: AFP

In Cold blood

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2008
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (Hong Kong)

The circumstances surrounding journalist Khim Sambo’s murder point to official involvement, writes Vincent MacIsaac

"They had no fear of being arrested. They weren’t wearing helmets and made no attempt to disguise their identity" - Chan Soveth, of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association"

Two weeks before he and his 21-year-old son were shot dead, Cambodian journalist Khim Sambo reported on a not uncommon topic in opposition-affiliated newspapers. When gamblers from the upper echelons of the ruling Cambodia People’s Party (CPP), accompanied by armed bodyguards or police, have prolonged losing streaks, it sometimes erupts in anger and even violence.

“When they lose, and cannot borrow more from the casino, they arrest the casino owners,” he wrote under one of his numerous pseudonyms, Srey Ka, in the June 28-29 weekend edition of the daily Khmer Conscience, which is affiliated with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP).

However, Khim Sambo – whose own anger needed to be “toned down”, according to a former colleague – went further than most, mocking the behaviour of a senior police officer described by many as “one of the most dangerous men in Cambodia”.

He reported on an incident that allegedly occurred – SRP newspapers are often accused of fabrication or exaggeration – on June 25 at a casino complex at a border crossing with Vietnam in the town of Bavet in Svay Rieng province.

After losing his shirt at Le Macau Casino and Hotel, the officer borrowed from the casino, lost that, borrowed more – and lost again. When the casino manager refused to lend any more, he had him arrested by the junior officers accompanying him, Khim Sambo reported.

He went further, describing how the officer stacked the deck: “When he loses US$100,000, the casino returns US$50,000. But he plays until losing the returned money, and demands to borrow more. If any casino owner dares to say ‘no’, he threatens to arrest him.”

Khim Sambo did not identify the officer by name but dropped enough hints so that when he concluded his report by stating “there is no need to name [the CPP gamblers] because everyone in Cambodia knows who they are”, he assumed readers would be able to identify the officer, a source said.

“He did not think he had put himself in danger because he did not identify the officer by name,” the source said on condition of anonymity. Several others – all of whom requested anonymity, citing concern for personal security – said that Khim Sambo was writing about Cambodian National Police Commissioner Hok Lundy.

The former governor of Svay Rieng province has been at the top of Cambodia’s police force since 1994. “There is hardly anyone in Cambodia who has shown more contempt for the rule of law than Hok Lundy,” Human Rights Watch has said. He “represents the absolute worst Cambodia has to offer”, it said.

“We believe the killing is related to that article,” Son Chhay, the whip of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party claimed, though he declined to identify the subject of the article.

The editor of Khmer Conscience, Dam Sith, who had been jailed on defamation charges in June, said he knew nothing about the article when interviewed by phone last Thursday.

That day, he was interviewed by one of the two agents from America’s FBI, said to be “supporting” their Cambodian counterparts in the investigation.

“I told them I don’t know anything about who is behind the killing, and that I hope they find who it is,” he said.

Chan Soveth, a programme officer at the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, warned that “if the FBI cannot work independently [their assistance] is just a political game”.

He arrived at the scene of the double homicide about 30 minutes after it occurred at about 6.30pm on July 11 and has been investigating ever since. He fears the police are protecting the perpetrators rather than trying to solve the crime.

Khim Sambo, 47, bled to death on the side of a busy street in central Phnom Penh, minutes after being shot twice in the back while riding a motorcycle driven by his son Khat Sarinpheata. The young man died the next day in a Phnom Penh hospital, after being shot twice while cradling his dying father, said Chan Soveth.

The killers, two men on a motorbike who approached Khim Sambo and his son from behind, were probably hired assassins, he said, pointing out that they used a K-49 pistol with a silencer.

“They had no fear of being arrested. They weren’t wearing helmets and made no attempt to disguise their identity. They acted like they were under protection,” Chan Soveth said.

When he arrived at the scene, he was able to gather information from bystanders but, when he returned the following morning, no one would speak to him, he said. Silence permeates human rights groups in Cambodia. When asked who he thought was behind the killing, Chan Soveth declined to answer. “I want to continue living in Cambodia,” he said.

He believes the murders were intended to create an atmosphere of fear ahead of the July general election, which the CPP won by a landslide. This view was widely promoted by Cambodian and international human rights groups who expressed outrage following the killing.

But SRP whip Son Chhay disputes that there was any link between the killings and the election. “It was not a political killing,” he said. “There was no order from the top of the CPP,” he said. “[Prime Minister] Hun Sen does not know who is behind the killings. If Hun Sen knew who was behind the killings, the FBI would not have been allowed to join the investigation.”

He added: “The FBI has been allowed in because the CPP believes they will be unable to find evidence of government involvement,” though he in no way suggests that the CPP has turned benevolent.

“Their behaviour, their totalitarian thinking is very much like the Khmer Rouge. Either you support the CPP or you are an enemy of the state. Killing opposition members is acceptable,” he said.

Son Chhay and Chan Soveth said they feared that the FBI was likely to be used by the Cambodian police to provide a veneer of legitimacy to what the latter described as a “sham investigation”.

Son Chhay noted: “They have this great ability to manipulate the international community and they will manipulate the FBI to make sure nothing happens [with the investigation].”

This is already happening, he said, pointing to a police statement published in the Cambodia Daily this month quoting Phnom Penh’s police commissioner as saying that an “FBI official had agreed that the killings were motivated by someoneseeking revenge against the journalist’s son”.

Senior police officers have suggested that the target of the killers was not Khim Sambo but his son.

In his initial report into the crime, Chan Soveth found no evidence thateither the father or the son were involved in a personal dispute that could have led to their murders.

US embassy spokesman John Johnson said he was aware that some human rights investigators had accused the local police of a cover-up. Because the investigation was ongoing, he said, he could not comment on the details of the case.

The FBI agents were playing a “purely supportive” role in the investigation at the invitation of the interior ministry, he said. Besides two investigators, who arrived on September 14, a forensic artist had arrived last week to assist localpolice with a sketch of the assailants, he added.

One day after meeting the FBI agents, Phnom Penh deputy police chief Hy Prou, who is in charge of the investigation, said there were no leads on a suspect and that the complexities of the case made investigating it difficult.

However, the fact that editor Dam Sith was interviewed for the first time after the FBI agents arrived could signal that the bureau is nudging the Cambodian police in a new direction – towards the articles Khim Sambo wrote before he was killed.

In an interview at his home last Saturday, Dam Sith said that one of the questions asked by the FBI agent, who was accompanied by a translator from the US embassy and two Cambodian officers, concerned the kind of articles Khim Sambo had written for him. He said he replied: “A lot of articles about different things.”

Dam Sith is a father with three young children. Since Khim Sambo’s killing he does not leave his home unless he has to. He looked like he had not slept in weeks and was in a highly nervous state.

In 2006, Hok Lundy was denied a US visa due to allegations that he was involved in drug and human trafficking. The following month, however, the FBI awarded him a medal for his efforts in fighting terrorism. In April last year, he was finally granted a US visa, to attend a counter-terrorism workshop.

Labels: CPP, Hok Lundy, Journalism, journalist

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Election Results Adjusted for Fraud Give Fewer Seats to CPP

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Sam Rainsy's letter as published in The Cambodia Daily, August 12, 2008

Election Results Adjusted for Fraud Give Fewer Seats to CPP

In "Opposition Parties Reiterate National Assembly Boycott Threat" (August 9-10, page 3), you mentioned figures about the election results adjusted by SRP for irregularities.

NEC's provisional figures published on August 9, 2008, reiterated that the CPP won 3.49 million votes and 90 seats versus 2.05 million votes and 31 seats for the combined opposition: SRP, Human Rights Party and Norodom Ranariddh Party.

''The true results of the election" that I presented -- 77 seats for the CCP, 35 for the SRP, seven for the HRP and two each for Funcinpec and the NRP -- were based on taking back from the CCP votes that were fraudulently collected after CPP commune chiefs had issued forged 1018 registration forms to its supporters. Another adjustment was made taking into account the fact that a significant portion of the electorate identified as non-CPP supporters, had been disenfranchised.

We have made our calculations based on two hypotheses.

1- Our minimum hypothesis is based on the assumption that:

a) An average of 10 forged 1018 forms were given out in the vicinity of each of the 15,254 polling stations, making a total of 152,540 forged forms and inflating the CPP votes by the same amount.

b) An average of 50 non-CPP supporters were disenfranchised at each polling station, meaning that a total of 762,700 voters nationwide were prevented from voting for non-CPP parties. Many independent observers acknowledge that up to 10 percent of the 8.1-million-strong electorate were prevented from voting.

2- Our maximum hypothesis is based on the assumption that:

a) An average of 65 forged 1018 forms were given out in the vicinity of each polling stations, making a total of 991,510 forged forms and inflating the CPP votes by the same amount (see July 29 SRP statement "What election observers did not see in a rigged election"). We now have proof that the 1018 forms were methodically and systematically issued by the CPP local authorities nationwide. This maneuver was conducted on an unprecedented scale.

b) An average of 65 non-CPP supporters were disenfranchised at each polling station, meaning that a total of 991,510 voters nationwide were prevented from voting for non-CPP parties (see the above-mentioned SRP statement). This figure is to be compared with the 2.1 million registered voters who did not or could not vote at the July 27 poll. Based on the much smaller number of people (less than one million) who did not vote at the previous national elections, we can infer that half of the above 2.1 million people wanted to vote but could not because they were disenfranchised. This led to the lowest voter turnout for a national election since the poll organized by the United Nations in 1993. The three opposition parties are now collecting petitions throughout the country from those voters who deplored the loss of their voting rights.

For each of the two hypotheses, we have revised the election results by:

a) Taking back from the CPP votes associated with forged 1018 forms.

b) Increasing, for the main non-CPP parties (SRP, HRP, NRP, Funcinpec), the number of their votes by the number of disenfranchised voters, using an allocation key that reflects the actual breakdown of non-CPP votes based on figures published by the NEC.

The minimum hypothesis shows the following results:

- CPP: 3.34 million votes; 78 seats

- SRP: 1.75 million votes; 34 seats

- HRP: 0.52 million votes; 7 seats

- NRP: 0.45 million votes; 2 seats

- Funcinpec: 0.40 million votes; 2 seats.

Total CPP + Funcinpec: 3.74 million votes; 80 seats

Total SRP + HRP + NRP: 2.72 million votes; 43 seats

The maximum hypothesis shows the following results:

- CPP: 2.50 million votes; 67 seats

- SRP: 1.87 million votes; 41 seats

- HRP: 0.56 million votes; 7 seats

- NRP: 0.48 million votes; 3 seats

- Funcinpec: 0.43 million votes; 5 seats.

Total CPP + Funcinpec: 2.93 million votes; 72 seats

Total SRP + HRP + NRP: 2.91 million votes; 51 seats

Furthermore, CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap's statement about the "three opposition parties" having "representatives" in the National Election Committee is simply not true.

In all cases NEC members had to resign from their original parties; therefore, to say that NEC has political party members as its representatives is a mistake. In any case, no NEC members came from NRP and HRP and only two members were originally from SRP, versus five from CPP and two from Funcinpec, making a total of nine.

What's more, the representatives originally from SRP had actually protested in writing against NEC's plan to unfairly delete voters' names, but they were overruled, which is hardly surprising given they were by far in the minority.

Finally, Cheam Yeap advocated that the NEC's proceedings were observed for irregularities at all levels by international observers and party representatives. In this connection, what does this CPP official think about the assessment by the EU Election Observation Mission that the Cambodian elections of 2008 "fell short of key international standards"?

Sam Rainsy
SRP President

Labels: CPP, Election, hun sen, Sam Rainsy, Sam Rainsy Party

Giving up freedoms to settle for 'peace'

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Giving Up Freedoms to Settle for 'Peace'

By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D. (Pacific Daily News)

Whether one perceives Cambodia's recent elections as a glass half full or a glass half empty depends on one's personal political socialization.

Some would see the elections as successful, as the level of violence associated with this exercise of franchise was less than it has been in the past. Those who were victims of the violence that did occur could be expected to have a different view.

Human Rights Watch Asia director Brad Adams warned against "the trap of using lower standards" for judging Cambodia's elections.

The Mekong Times' Ly Menghour's Aug. 4 article refers to photos depicting a finger-wagging Hun Sen apparently scolding opposition leader Sam Rainsy at a departure ceremony for King Father Norodom Sihanouk and his family on Aug. 1, as their "first public exchange of words" since the elections."

The Times says Sen called "demonic" a joint letter by the Sam Rainsy Party, the Human Rights Party, and the Norodom Ranariddh Party protesting election results; and reports Sen's warning to Rainsy that the SRP's "26 seats" won in the elections "will be divided among other (political parties)" should the SRP boycott the Sept. 24 swearing-in ceremony of the elected parliamentarians. The Times says the smiling Rainsy responded: "My party represents the votes of two million."

In his Aug. 5 letter to the editor, Rainsy declares, "the new Assembly cannot even validly convene without participation from the opposition."

Published reports state the head of the royalist FUNCINPEC party, Keo Puth Reasmey, and his wife, Princess Norodom Arunrasmey, a prime minister candidate, have been told by Sen to resign from the party.

On July 28, the Voice of America broadcast a four-party call to Cambodians and the world "not to recognize the results of the July 27, 2008, elections." Prince Sisowath Sirirath signed for FUNCINPEC.

But an Aug. 2 article by Menghour reports FUNCINPEC's reversal of opinion, as it announced after a closed meeting that it may be "not satisfied with the (election's) outcome," but it "(will) not make a complaint against the election results."

Beyond Sen and Cambodia's elections is the fundamental issue that divides peoples and nations: economic development versus rights and freedom of men.

A political animal, man seeks freedom and justice. Without justice, some men will not stop struggling, undermining a durable peace.

When I was still teaching, I attended a lunch in Washington, D.C., with two good friends: One, a political appointee, touted the policies of human rights and freedom of the United States; the other, a ranking Asian diplomat, defended his country's policy of order and security as a prerequisite to economic development.

What I injected into the discussion was my view -- summarized in "Individual freedom in stable society" in the Sept. 10, 1997, edition of the Jakarta Post, and "The world must have balance for survival," in the Sept. 7, 1997, issue of the Pacific Sunday News. Both referenced Somalia, Bosnia, Myanmar and Cambodia, where "repressive" regimes used terror against their people while the West, notably the United States, did not intervene, and how the Association of South-East Asian Nations embraced "non-interference."

I believed then and now that economic development and human rights and freedom are not mutually exclusive.

I didn't think my two friends finished their meal satisfied.

I find the July 29 Christian Science Monitor's David Montero's "In Cambodia vote, stability wins" sums up the Cambodian elections well: "Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled for 23 years, won another five-year term Sunday. His party has overseen several prosperous years; critics say it stifles democracy."

Sen is credited for Cambodia's economic growth of more than 10 per cent a year since 2000. The CEO of private-equity fund Leopard Capital that will inject $500 million into Cambodia's economy, cheered Sen's election as a "best-case scenario" for big investors. I doubt if Cambodian victims of land grabbing agree.

British economist Christopher Windsor, who called Cambodians "brainless" for handing the elections to Sen, reminded that even if Cambodians make "twice more" than they did before, the goods and services are "three times more expensive," and the 10 percent growth rate that is "distributed among rich CPP members" means that "all Cambodians" are hurt.

The head of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, Galabru, spoke of the CPP's "mirage of economic stability" as the poor are being evicted from their homes and their land at an alarming rate: "You have a GDP increase, but look at the gap between rich and poor. More than 40 percent (of Cambodia's total population of 14 million) live below the standard income."

Political analyst Sedera Kim told Montero that in Asia, "you don't care about the content of democracy. You care about economic performance first." Galabru begged to differ: "Democracy anywhere, in Europe, in North America, in Asia, must be the same. This is a universal principle," she argued.

Ironically, no Cambodian is in a better position than Sen himself to redress the imbalance of values and principles, and stability and order. But he is the man who said he would stay in power until he's 90, and would not leave power even if he would not win the elections.

A balance between economic growth and human rights must be established in Cambodia, where the people have too long suffered. Unfortunately, economic growth that does not lift the poorest of boats only diminishes the horizon for the millions who are left in the shallows.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

Labels: CPP, Election, Funcinpec, Prince Ranariddh, Sam Rainsy

Royalist Parties U-Turn and Accept Cambodia Poll Results

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Royalist Parties U-Turn and Accept Cambodia Poll Results

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia's royalist parties said Tuesday they would accept the results of last month's election, despite their previous claims that Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party had rigged the polls.

The royalist Funcinpec party and its offshoot the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) joined opposition leader Sam Rainsy late last month to complain that thousands of people were left off voter lists in the July 27 election.

Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) claimed victory as early results showed they won nearly 60 percent of the vote, and in separate statements released Tuesday the royalists said they would accept that outcome.

"NRP considers that the election ... was transparent, free, fair and in accordance with democratic process in Cambodia," the party headed by former Funcinpec leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh said.

His old outfit, meanwhile, said: "Although there are some technical irregularities, Funcinpec party publicly supports and accepts the temporary results of the election."

Their apparent u-turn comes after Hun Sen said last week he would include Funcinpec in the new government. He also said another party with two seats in parliament -- and apparent reference to the NRP -- had approached him.

Early results released by the National Election Committee (NEC) show the CPP winning 58.1 percent of the vote, compared with 21.9 percent for its nearest rival, the Sam Rainsy Party.

Hun Sen's CPP has said it captured at least 90 of the 123 parliament seats up for grabs. Funcinpec and the NRP are believed to have won only two seats each.

The final NEC tally will be announced in September, ahead of the forming of a new government.

International monitors have said the election was flawed and did not meet key standards, despite a more peaceful campaign and improvements in the electoral process compared to past polls here.

Sam Rainsy has estimated that one million registered voters were cut from the rolls and has demanded a re-vote.

Labels: CPP, Election, Prince Ranariddh

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Flawed System Sullies Cambodia's Election

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Flawed System Sullies Cambodia's Election

By Lao Mong Hay
Column: Rule by Fear

Hong Kong, China (UPI Asia Online) — Cambodia held a general election on Sunday, and while the National Election Committee was still gathering the election returns, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party already announced it had won 91 out of 123 seats, 18 seats more than in the last election and way ahead of its nearest rival, the Sam Rainsy Party, which had secured 26 seats.

The Sam Rainsy Party and three other parties that also won seats, according to the same announcement, quickly joined forces on Monday to denounce the results, charging that they had been “manipulated and rigged” by the ruling party. They cited “illegal and fraudulent practices” relating to “deletion of countless legitimate voters' names and artificial increase” in votes for the ruling party due to “illegitimate voters.”

The ruling party’s victory and the denouncement of it by the four non-ruling parties have come as no surprise. In fact this victory had been widely predicted even months before the polls. Some have cited the economic growth achieved over recent years by the ruling party and the electorate’s unity behind it in the face of Thailand’s recent encroachment on Cambodia as the main factors contributing to the win.

In fact, the ruling party’s victory should be attributed to the system of government it put in place when it was a full-fledged communist party in the 1980s. To this system was added a democratic veneer in 1993 when the country theoretically embraced parliamentary democracy, but it has remained basically intact and in firm control. The ruling party has utilized this system to get itself re-elected over and over since its defeat in the U.N.-organized election in 1993.

The ruling party has controlled all the state apparatus – including the National Election Committee, the judiciary, security forces, civil service and educational institutions – since the communist days. It has manned all important posts with its members, so that the state apparatus and the party apparatus are but one.

Such fusion can be seen in the proximity of the offices of the party, police stations and administrative offices, whose respective buildings are located next to one another in many provinces, districts and communities. Almost all village chiefs and heads of groups in villages are also members of the ruling party. All party cadres from top to bottom enjoy high social status, impunity and material benefits gained through illicit means.

Several months before the election, the ruling party was able to successfully tempt with such privileges thousands of members of the opposition parties, including some senior members of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, to defect to it. The ruling party has proved very successful in enrolling members, so much so that just before this election one of its senior members claimed that his party had nearly 5 million members, and this out of just over 8 million voters in the country.

Through this extensive apparatus, the ruling party has been able to maintain firm control of the population. Members of each household must be registered in a police-issued family book and a residence book, and grassroots party officials must know each household and its members’ activities. Local party cadres who are also local officials can mobilize and induce the population to support the ruling party. They can also deny rival parties and even civil society organizations access to the population without prior permission. They can prevent, using force if need be, public meetings and training seminars organized by those parties and civil society organizations.

The ruling party has had a virtual monopoly and control of all the media, especially radio and television, on which the overwhelming majority of people depend for news and other information. It has been making use of this media year in year out, while its rival parties are deprived of it. Some press with limited circulation is freer, but the majority of newspapers are run by members or supporters of the ruling party, and it is rare that commercial companies dare put advertisements in newspapers known to be affiliated to any rival party.

The ruling party has been able to secure overwhelming resources for elections when it is in command of state resources and has a lot of support from private companies that seek favors for their business. Thanks to all these resources it has been able to buy votes though building social projects and giving hand-outs during election campaigns, and to fund other election expenses.

The ruling party has enjoyed all these privileges since there is no anti-corruption mechanism in place to take action against it. Furthermore, the National Election Committee also placed under its control has imposed no limit on donations to political parties and their expenses in elections campaigns. Nor has it verified and made transparent the accounts of all political parties. This system only favors the ruling party.

Last but not least, the police and courts of law which the ruling party also controls have acted more promptly and more diligently in criminal cases in which members of the ruling party are victims and members of opposition parties are suspected offenders than vice versa. Some months prior to the election, they showed only apathy toward reported threats and intimidation of activists of non-ruling parties, destruction of their signboards, and even the killing of some of them.

The system of government and social control which the ruling party has put in place and firmly controls leaves little room for free and fair competition among political parties, or for free choice among the electorate. This largely contributed to the outcome of the election, if it had not already determined it prior to the polling day. It also contributed to producing the irregularities which the four parties have used to claim that that election was manipulated and rigged by the ruling party.

(Lao Mong Hay is a senior researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. He was previously director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and a visiting professor at the University of Toronto in 2003. In 1997, he received an award from Human Rights Watch and the Nansen Medal in 2000 from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.)

Labels: CPP, Election, hun sen, Sam Rainsy Party

CAMBODIA: Polls Were Fair - EU Observers

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CAMBODIA: Polls Were Fair - EU Observers

By Andrew Nette

PHNOM PENH, Jul 30 (IPS) - An attempt by Cambodia’s four main opposition parties to reject the result of national elections, in which the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) was returned in a landslide, has met with little support from local and international organisations monitoring the poll.

In a short statement released earlier this week, the four political parties called "on the public opinion and the international community not to recognise the results of the July 27, 2008 elections which were manipulated and rigged by the ruling CPP.''

Opposition parties argue the extent of CPP’s win reflects a campaign of intimidation, vote buying and dirty tricks orchestrated by the ruling party in the lead-up to the election.

They maintain CPP’s vote was further inflated on polling day by the deletion of many legitimate names from the voting list and the issuing of fraudulent ‘1018’ forms by local authorities controlled by CPP.

These forms are official documentation that voters lacking proper identification can submit to be able to vote. It is illegal under Cambodian election law for them to be handed out on polling day.

However, opposition calls of foul play have received little support from local and international election monitors, including a 130-member European Union election observation mission, in Cambodia since mid-June.

"I would say that on the basis of the provisional results published so far, CPP very clearly has a large majority and therefore any irregularities would have to be of a very large scale to invalidate the result," Martin Callanan, chief observer for the EU mission told the media in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.

"While it is fair to say we have some evidence of irregularities these are not of such significant scale," he said.

Although an official seat count has yet to be released, Cambodia’s main poll monitor, the Committee for Free and Fair Elections (COMFREL), has estimated CPP won approximately 57 percent in the weekend’s vote, giving it roughly 90 seats in the 123-member National Assembly.

This is broadly in sync with CPP’s own projections released to the media earlier this week.

In is also in line with the expectations of local and international commentators who were predicting the ruling party would win big in last Sunday’s election.

According to COMFREL, the next largest party, the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), secured 21 percent of the vote. The Norodom Ranarridh Party, Funcinpec and the Human Rights Party hovered under five percent each.

While describing the general atmosphere in the lead-up to the poll as an improvement on previous national elections, Callanan stressed it still "fell short of a number of key international standards for democratic elections.’’

Despite improvements in transparency, he said the EU mission noted a lack of confidence in the impartiality of election administration among stakeholders, and that all aspects of the election process are dominated by the ruling CPP.

Within hours of the close of polls on Sunday, opposition parties had raised what they believed where serious concerns about the validity of the process.

Approximately 200 disgruntled voters who found themselves struck off the voter list had gathered throughout the day in the compound of the SRP headquarters in Phnom Penh.

A SRP spokesperson said these irregularities including large numbers of people being deleted from the voter list and forged 1018 forms issued to pro-ruling party voters not on the voter roll, many of whom she said were "foreigners, not Cambodian nationals.’’

Speaking to IPS on election night, SRP’s leader Sam Rainsy claimed that the names of at least 200,000 eligible voters had been deleted from the rolls in Phnom Penh alone.

SRP has since handed out fliers on the streets of the capital claiming nearly a million people across the country were disenfranchised in Sunday’s vote although no hard evidence has been proffered to support this claim.

"I am aware of the comments of the opposition parties rejecting the results but I would encourage the parties to first use the complaint process established by NEC," Callanan said Tuesday.

Officials at the National Election Committee (NEC), the body responsible for overseeing the country’s elections, have said the deadline for complaints about the voter list had long passed and no action would be taken on the matter.

It is unclear what tactics the four opposition parties will now adopt to push their cause, although SRP has called a rally in Phnom Penh Wednesday to protest the result.

"The number of names removed on the weekend was no surprise to us because this is what we found in our audit," said Puthea Hang, Executive Director of Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (NICFEC).

NICFEC is one of several organisations involved in a June 2008 audit of the voter list, which found approximately 590,000 names had been incorrectly removed from list or 0.7 percent of the total electoral roll.

"Every vote is important," said Tom Andrews, a senior advisor to the National Democratic Institute, which worked with NICFEC on the audit and on training observers placed in 378 of the country’s 1,245 polling stations.

"But we need to base our conclusion on the evidence we have seen in the audit and our observers did not show what has been suggested by the opposition,’’ Andrews said. "It showed that people had been taken from the list but that the number was small and there was no clear pattern."

NGOs maintain they alerted NEC months ago about these mistaken deletions but the election body refused to restore the names.

"It is regretful that NEC did not take the opportunity to reinstate those names when they had the chance," said Callanan.

While Callanan agreed the issuing of 1018 forms on polling day was "in clear contravention of the election law," EU observers had only "found a relatively small number of examples" of these being issued.

Most groups monitoring the poll agree the elections were an improvement on the last poll in 2003.

All groups welcomed the decrease in violence compared to previous polls.

There is also general agreement that the technical aspects of the country’s electoral process, including the ballot and counting, are steadily improving.

"NEC proved its ability to organise technically good elections with the planning and execution of the recruitment and training of election staff and other important electoral activities being timely and well conducted," the EU mission said in its preliminary statement released Tuesday.

These improvements aside, monitoring groups say a long list of problems stand in the way of genuinely fair elections.

Many of these have less to do with what happens on polling day or even in the official four-week campaign, than they are the result of decades of instability and the dominant role played by CPP in the country’s political life since 1979, when neighbouring Vietnamese installed them after overthrowing the Khmer Rouge.

CPP almost completely dominates the electronic media, particularly TV, by far the most important source of information for Cambodians.

The EU statement said this situation is "to the detriment of the other parties to a degree which was not consistent with international standards of free and fair access to the media," the EU statement said.

On Jul. 10, NEC issued a warning to 13 television stations for broadcasting biased coverage of the elections. Ten of these were dominated by pro-CPP coverage, according to NEC.

"Not only do people have a right to vote but they have a right to an informed choice," said Andrews. "CPP domination of the media makes this very difficult."

The 2003 campaign also saw a widespread increase in the use of state resources by CPP during the campaign period, including the use of government vehicles and campaigning by government and military staff.

Other problems included widespread vote buying and the interference of village chiefs, the overwhelming majority of which are pro-CPP, in NEC’s voter education activities.

"I say take it as a whole, before the election and after balloting," said Andrews. "I think this (election) was a step forward on the longer road to a more vibrant and healthy democracy. But there are several steps more that need to be taken."

(END/2008)

Labels: CPP, Election, Sam Rainsy Party

EU Criticises Cambodia Election

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A gardener works on the landscape in the front of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) headquarters in Phnom Penh. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen took nearly 60 percent of the vote in weekend polls, election officials said, but the opposition rejected his win and demanded a new balloting. (AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

EU Criticises Cambodia Election

Monitors from the European Union Say Cambodia's Recent General Election Fell Short of International Standards.

By Guy Delauney
Tuesday, 29 July 2008 (BBC News, Phnom Penh)

They said the governing party dominated the media and the National Election Committee (NEC), and tens of thousands of people were disenfranchised.

But they also praised the smooth running of what was described as a "technically good" election.

The EU observers were among 17,000 local and international monitors who observed the election.

While their findings were a mixed bag, there was certainly more criticism than praise.

The key issue was impartiality and the role of the governing Cambodian People's Party (CPP).

Large majority

The EU team said the CPP had made "consistent and widespread" use of state resources for its own campaigning efforts.

The party dominated media coverage to an unacceptable degree, and the presence of officials connected to the CPP on the NEC compromised that institution's independence.

The monitors said the NEC had disenfranchised 50,000 registered voters by allowing their names to be removed from the electoral roll.

But the EU's chief observer, Martin Callanan, said that had not affected the result of the election.

"Under the provisional results that have been published, the CPP clearly has a very large majority," he said.

"Therefore any irregularities which were proved would have to be on a very large scale in order to invalidate that result.''

The opposition parties beg to differ.

Four of them have rejected the provisional results, which give the CPP an overall majority.

They claim that hundreds of thousands of their supporters were unable to vote and that similar numbers of ineligible people were allowed to cast ballots.

Labels: CPP, Election, hun sen, Sam Rainsy Party

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Four Main Parties Reject 'Sham' Election

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(L-R) Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) leader Sam Rainsy, Human Rights Party leader Khem Sokha, member of royalist FUNCINPEC Prince Sisowath Sirirath and member of Norodom Ranariddh Party Muth Chantha hold hands during a news conference, as they reject election results saying it was manipulated by the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CCP) at SRP headquarters in Phnom Penh July 28, 2008. CCP claimed a landslide victory on Monday in an election bestowing another five years in power on ex-Khmer Rouge guerrilla Hun Sen, prime minister for the past 23 years. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Four Main Parties Reject 'Sham' Election

By Heng Reaksmey

28 July 2008 (VOA Khmer )

Representatives from four non-ruling parties gathered at opposition headquarters Monday to reject Sunday's national election as "a sham," after the ruling Cambodian People's Party appeared to have won enough seats to form a single-party government.

Top officials of the Sam Rainsy, Human Rights, Norodom Ranariddh and Funcinpec parties signed a letter calling on "Cambodian public opinion and the international community not to recognize the results of the July 27, 2008, elections, which were manipulated and rigged by the ruling Cambodian People's Party."

There have not been five separate parties elected to the National Assembly since the 1993 Untac elections, and the joining together of four against one is unprecedented.

In 1998, the Sam Rainsy and Funcinpec parties joined together to protest election results in the wake of the 1997 coup.

That three-month crisis of government led to mass demonstrations in the capital and a brutal crackdown by government forces, where scores of demonstrators were disappeared and presumed killed.

In 2003, the government was deadlocked for 11 months, due to an alliance between Funcinpec and SRP that prevented a coalition government.

"We have already strengthened together to deny the results of the election, and also for the voters," opposition leader Sam Rainsy told a large crowd gathered at his headquarters Monday afternoon. "We need to revote across Cambodia."

"We appeal to the EU and the international community to deny the results, because there are so many irregularities during the election," Human Rights Party Presdient Kem Sokha told the same cheering crowd.

The parties "hope in the future will have an alliance together" and have the same goals, he said.

The main point for the alliance would be to send a message to the people "who love justice" to come to work together.

The four parties condemned "illegal and fraudulent practices" in Sunday's polls, including "deletion of countless legitimate voters' names and [an] artificial increase in the CPP voters to cast their ballots for the CPP."

The parties also condemned "the tricks and maneuvers of the National Election Committee, which is only a tool for the CPP to organize a sham election and present a façade of democracy."

"I'm not surprised about this information," NEC Chairman Im Sousdey told reporters Monday. "We always see after the election Cambodian political parties doing the same thing."

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Monday unofficial results now showed the CPP with 90 seats, followed by the Sam Rainsy Party with 26, Human Rights Party with three, Norodom Ranariddh with two, and Funcinpec with two.

Khieu Thai Sarakmony, a 57-year-old from Phnom Penh who joined the crowd at SRP headquarters Monday, said he supported the cooperation of the four parties for the people.

"But it should have been earlier," he said, "before the election."

Labels: CPP, Election, Sam Rainsy, Sam Rainsy Party

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Facts and Figures on Cambodia's Parliamentary Elections

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Facts and Figures on Cambodia's Parliamentary Elections

July 27, 2008 (AP)

THE SYSTEM: Bicameral parliament consisting of the National Assembly, or lower house, and the Senate, the upper house. The National Assembly is elected once every five years.
The National Assembly has 123 seats. Its function is to approve laws and appoint a new government. The king, who is the head of state, signs off on all laws adopted by Parliament. He wields no executive power.

The Senate will not be affected by Sunday's ballot. It has 61 members.

ELECTORATE: 8.1 million voters above 18 years of age, more than 50 percent of whom are women, in a country of 14 million people.
King Norodom Sihamoni does not vote and cannot hold political office. Many other members of the royal family are running in the election.

POLITICAL GROUPS: Eleven political parties are running for parliamentary seats in 24 constituencies across Cambodia. There are two front-runners: Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party, a former communist party which has held power for the past 29 years; and the Sam Rainsy Party of former Finance Minister Sam Rainsy. In the outgoing parliament, CPP held 73 seats to the opposition's 24. Hun Sen has been prime minister since 1985.

THE CANDIDATES: There are a total of 1,162 candidates. Parties compete rather than candidates. Total votes received by a party in a constituency are used to calculate the number of seats occupied by its candidates in the National Assembly. There are no independent candidates.

THE ISSUES: Standard election issues like the economy, rising fuel and commodities prices, government corruption, poor health care and poverty have been upstaged by a tense border dispute with neighboring Thailand. The row prompted both countries to send troops to the border two weeks before the election. Nationalist pride was expected to propel Hun Sen to re-election.
Some 35 percent of the country's 14 million people live on less than US$.50 per day. The country depends heavily on foreign financial assistance.

VOTING HOURS: 0000 GMT to 0800 GMT, July 27.

VOTING SYSTEM: Each ballot carries the names and symbols of all 23 parties running for election. Each voter is allowed to select only one party.

Labels: CPP, Election, hun sen, Sam Rainsy, Sam Rainsy Party

Cambodian Ruling Party Heads to Poll Win

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Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen shows his ink-stained finger to the media after casting his ballot during the general election at a polling station in Takmoa town in Kandal province, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, July 27, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian Ruling Party Heads to Poll Win

By KER MUNTHIT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodians went to the polls Sunday in an election dominated by a tense border dispute with neighboring Thailand that has fueled national sentiment, strengthening longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Hun Sen's reputation as a strongman who intimidates rivals has served him well, with voters rallying around the leader as Cambodian troops face off with Thai soldiers for a second week at a disputed 11th century Hindu temple on the border.

Dressed in gray safari shirt and pants, Hun Sen flashed a broad smile and displayed a black-inked forefinger to waiting cameras after casting his ballot Sunday in a provincial town outside the capital, Phnom Penh. He declined comment to reporters.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy called a midday news conference, claiming some 200,000 registered voters in the capital, where the opposition is strongest, were unable to cast ballots because their names had been left off voter lists.

The ruling party "is full of tricks. Scrap the election and do it again," he said. Allegations of vote fraud have plagued past Cambodian elections but never dented the ruling party's dominance.

Asia's longest-serving leader, the 57-year-old Hun Sen was forecast to win the vote even before the military standoff escalated earlier this month. But patriotic passions over Preah Vihear temple and Hun Sen's firm stance against Thailand have swayed many undecided voters in his favor, analysts say.

"Everybody now supports the government because this is a national issue," said Kek Galabru, a prominent Cambodian human rights activist and election monitor. "More people will vote for (Hun Sen) to give him more power to deal with Preah Vihear."

Chan Sim, a 72-year-old voter in the capital, cast his ballot for Hun Sen's ruling party "because of its good leadership and ability to keep unity."

A 24-year-old Buddhist monk, Chhuon Noeurn, said the standoff at Preah Vihear did not affect his choice for a leader, but added: "We Cambodians cannot afford to be divided on this issue."

More than 8 million of Cambodia's 14 million people were eligible to vote in Sunday's election. Buddhist monks and ordinary people, some holding toddlers with milk bottles, crowded polling stations when they opened at 8 p.m. EDT. Unofficial party results were expected a few hours after polling stations close at 4 a.m. EDT. Official figures were expected later in the week.

Eleven parties are vying for seats in the 123-seat National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, with the winner forming a new government to run the country for the next five years.

Hun Sen himself has voiced little doubt that his ruling Cambodian People's Party, which held 73 Assembly's seats during the past five-year-term, will return with an overwhelming majority.

Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia since 1985, when he became prime minister of a Vietnamese-installed communist government after the fall of the Khmer Rouge.

Internationally, he has faced criticism for alleged corruption and human rights abuses. But Hun Sen argues his tenure ushered in peace and stability after the Khmer Rouge's genocidal reign from 1975-1979, which killed an estimated 1.7 million people before being toppled by the invading Vietnamese army.

A former Khmer Rouge soldier himself, Hun Sen embraced free-market policies that have made Cambodia's economy one of the fastest growing in Asia, expanding at 11 percent in each of the past three years.

"The economic growth helps. And in a time of crisis, people feel they have to be united behind the power that controls the army," said Benny Widyono, an independent observer and former United Nations official during Cambodia's U.N.-brokered peace process in the early 1990s.

The opposition Sam Rainsy Party, which held 24 seats in the lower house of parliament, campaigned for greater attention to human rights, the country's poor and an end to alleged corruption.

But standard election issues have been upstaged by the military standoff with Thailand, a controversy revolving around 1.8 square miles of land that has been in dispute since French colonialists withdrew from Cambodia in the 1950s.

The International Court of Justice awarded the temple site to Cambodia in 1962, but anger flared in Thailand last month after Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej backed Cambodia's successful bid for the temple to be listed as a U.N. World Heritage Site.

Thailand sent troops to the border July 15 after Thai anti-government demonstrators assembled near the temple. Cambodia responded by sending its own troops to the border.

The two countries plan to resume negotiations on the border row Monday.

Labels: CPP, Election, hun sen, Sam Rainsy Party

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Concerns and Recommendations for Electoral Observer and Monitors for July 26 and 27

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26 July 2008

Concerns and Recommendations for Electoral Observer and Monitors
for July 26 and 27

The following is an updated version of a document released by the Sam Rainsy Party on 20 July 2008, detailing possible electoral fraud that international observers and monitors must pay attention to throughout election weekend.

1. Voter list manipulation

The ruling party has several methods to manipulate voter lists to their advantage. For example, they can erase the names of legitimate voters, especially non-CPP supporters. Alternatively, they can keep (or add) "ghost voters" on the list: deceased people, voters that were registered twice, and voters that have moved away permanently. The CPP can then use these ghost voters to inflate their number of votes in the following way:

They will identify people who are not eligible to vote (such as under-aged people, non-registered citizens and foreigners living in Cambodia) or people who are not interested in voting (such as migrant workers not registered as voters) and offer them money in exchange for a CPP vote. They will take these people to specific venues, where they will distribute 1018 documents (*) with the ghost voter's identity but the replacement voter's real photo. With this fake identity, they will be able to vote for the CPP.

Besides, they will wait until minutes before the end of voting hours to identify registered voters who did not show upat the polling station. They will then issue last-minute fraudulent 1018 forms with the identity of the absent registered voters to people who will vote for them.

Finally, the CPP can steal the votes of legitimate voters whom they suspect will not vote for them in the following way: they will forge 1018 documents with the identity of non-CPP supporters, and then bribe people (illegitimate voters) to vote for the CPP using this forged document. These fraudulent voters will go to the polling station as early as possible, before the real voter can show up. When the real voter does show up, they are turned down, as their name has already been used to vote.

Recommendations for Observers:

1) The 1018 form must be stamped in order to be issued. The stamp is detained by the commune clerk, assistant to the commune chief, both of which are affiliated with the CPP. Most ghost voter 1018 forms are distributed on or just before voting day, although it is illegal to issue them on Election Day. The CPP will have pre-dated these forms but they cannot pre-stamp them, as the stamp must be on the photo of the person who will vote using the ghost voter identity. Therefore, it is crucial for the stamp to be safeguarded on Election Day. The SRP has already proposed that the stamp be kept in a sealed and signed envelope, in such a way that its presence would be visible by all. We recommend that monitors support this proposal, push for its implementation, and monitor the whereabouts of the stamp on Election Day.

2) The CPP will hold gatherings to distribute the 1018 forms. The venues for the distribution will most likely be village chiefs' houses, commune chiefs' houses, or the local CPP headquarters. We recommend that monitors send delegates to these locations on Election Day and report any suspicious activity, such as unusual gathering of people. The mere presence of an international observer may be a sufficient deterrent to this practice. For the monitors staying at the polling stations, look out for ghost voters especially between the hours of 11:30-13.00 (lunchtime), and 14:30-15:00 (minutes before the closing of the polling station at 15:00). The SRP asks that a list of identified ghost voters be posted in every polling station and that voters using these fake identities be immediately identified and forbidden to vote. These lists are available and monitors should demand that they are used to eliminate voter fraud.

3) Observers must pay close attention to voters being turned down under the pretext that they have already voted. We recommend that you ask local agents and your local collaborators for more details on any voter being turned away and that you be aware of this CPP vote-stealing strategy.

2. Vote Buying

a. The Night of Barking Dogs

In previous elections, the night before Election Day has been referred to as the Night of Barking Dogs, because of the systematic door-to-door visits of CPP officials and dogs' reactions to these unannounced house calls. Tonight, they will distribute money and sarongs in exchange for votes. Observers must rely on local informants and collaborators for reports on such vote buying.

Recommendations for Observers: the sarongs and money allocated for this vote buying are stored in specific places: local CPP Headquarters, village chiefs' houses and commune chiefs' houses. Local observers and party agents will wait outside these warehouses throughout the night and follow CPP officials that come out with bribes in order to deter any illegal activity. We recommend that you take note of their reports.

b. Buying Opposition Party Agents

CPP party agents will bribe and intimidate other parties' agents (especially those of SRP) in order to ensure their silence in the face of vote-buying and ballot counting manipulation.

Recommendations for Observers: listen to party agents and be aware of these illegal practices.

c. Ten-House Groups

Early on the morning of Election Day, in each village the CPP will summon, in specific places, their supporters who are organized in communist-type cells of ten households each, which are under the supervision of the village chief. The official purpose of these ten-house groups is to facilitate voter transport to polling stations. However, during the transportation, CPP officials will pressure the voters and tell them how and who to vote for while giving them additional bribes, or making promises of additional bribes. Such coercion after the end of the official campaigning period, as well as the outright illegality of vote-buying, is a breach of electoral law. This is particularly serious as it is last-minute psychological pressure before these voters cast their ballots.

Recommendations for Observers: listen to local informants, including opposition party agents who may have infiltrated these groups, as they may serve as witnesses of this breach of electoral law. In addition, observers should follow the village chief wherever he goes.

3. Ballot Counting Process

a. Vote Announcements

The ballot number of CPP is four (4) whereas that of the SRP is nine (9). In Khmer these two numbers sound similar. Four is boun and nine is pram boun, often pronounced as p'boun.. Therefore, when spoken fast, the number nine can easily be confused as a four. As the ballot counting process is done through verbal announcement of ballot numbers, the NEC has given official instructions ordering that during the ballot counting process the party names of the CPP and SRP ballots have to be announced before the number. However, usually these types of instructions are given by the top levels of government to serve only as a façade and are not implemented at the local levels.

Recommendations for Observers: Observers must ensure that for the CPP and SRP parties, the announcers state the party name before the ballot number.

b. Null and Void Ballots

According to electoral law, any mark(s) within a single party's segment of the ballot (even outside the designated blank square) constitutes a valid ballot. However, if a mark is found in two different parties' segments, the ballot is rendered null. Throughout the voting process, CPP agents will contaminate ballots. At the voting stage they may give ballots that are pre-marked on the CPP segment (or a smaller party's segment) to people they suspect are not CPP supporters. At the ballot counting stage, CPP agents may discreetly add a second mark to another party's segment on SRP ballots, and if caught, claim this action was inadvertent. These two tactics are used to nullify votes for the SRP. If this is witnessed, SRP party agents will file complaints.

Recommendations for Observers: Ask to look at the ballots when there is an unusually large number of complaints. Ensure that the intention of the ballot be respected, because in some cases there is a clear tick or mark for a single party combined with a small mark in another party segment that was most likely not intended by the voter. Observers must also ensure that party agents' complaints are treated fairly and not systematically rejected by the NEC as was the case in previous elections.

c. 1104 Forms

1104 forms are minutes of vote counting for each polling station. These 1104 forms are essential for parallel counting. At the end of ballot counting, the 1104 forms reveal the breakdown of electoral results by polling station and thus serve as an accurate computation of the national results. Each party agent is entitled to a copy of the 1104 form from their polling station. In previous elections NEC officials invented pretexts to retain 1104 forms overnight, allowing them to manipulate the results of the votes without even touching the ballots (cheating at the reporting level). Opposition party agents can file complaints if they do not receive a 1104 form immediately after the counting. In the case of a legitimate complaint, the polling stations' ballot boxes must be reopened and the votes recounted. In 2003, virtually no recounting was allowed despite over 1,000 filed complaints. It is crucial that observers remain present during the final phase of the electoral process, even after the results are announced, to oversee the resolution of complaints.

Recommendations for Observers: Make sure that all party agents receive 1104 forms immediately after ballot counting is over. Secondly, make sure that all complaints are treated fairly.

4. Clean Finger Operation

In past elections, the CPP paid voters to vote for them but now having realized that people could accept their money and still vote for the party of their choice, they have resorted to a new strategy: paying people to abstain from voting if they are not known CPP supporters. When voters cast their ballot, their finger is dipped in ink that remains on their skin for several days, therefore a clean finger after the elections is evidence that a person has abstained from voting. The CPP will bribe voters before the election, and give an additional bribe after the election in exchange for a clean finger.

Recommendations for Observers:

We recommend that international monitors look out for this phenomenon by asking your local informants, translators, and voters for occurrences of the clean finger operation. It is important to be aware of this widespread practice and actively search for evidence, as it will not be visible in a polling station or on Election Day.

Finally, we recommend that monitors look out for CPP agents closing windows and doors of polling stations, faking electricity cuts, and detonating small explosives to create bomb scares. These are all tactics to limit transparency, and intimidate non-CPP voters to prevent them from casting their ballots. CPP voters, escorted by CPP agents, generally come at the early hours and will have already cast their votes.

SRP Members of Parliament

Labels: CPP, Election, Sam Rainsy, Sam Rainsy Party

Friday, July 25, 2008

Cambodia Parties in Pre-Poll Push

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Cambodia Parties in Pre-Poll Push

Friday, 25 July 2008 (BBC-News UK)

Political parties in Cambodia have been holding rallies in a final campaign push before Sunday's general election.

The polls, the fourth since decades of civil war ended, are widely expected to return Prime Minister Hun Sen to power.

His main challenger is former finance minister Sam Rainsy, but few believe he will oust the man who has led Cambodia for 23 years.

The polls are taking place amid heightened nationalist sentiment over a border dispute with Thailand.

Troops from the two countries are camped on territory both claim near the 11th Century temple of Preah Vihear, which earlier this month was listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site.

Cambodia is due to hold talks with Thailand on the issue on Monday.

Economy key

Eleven parties are contesting the 27 July polls, but most believe the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) will secure another five-year term in power.

Under the Hun Sen-led CPP, Cambodia has achieved high growth - helped by revenue from the garment and tourist industries.

"The voters realise we did a lot - building roads, schools, health care and especially the economy," Phnom Penh Mayor Kep Chuktema told a CPP rally in the capital.

But the country is also experiencing soaring inflation and there is growing discontent over endemic corruption - both of which could favour opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

His eponymous Sam Rainsy Party currently holds 24 seats in the 123-seat parliament. The CPP has 73 and its coalition partner, royalist party Funcinpec, has 26.

Previous polls have been hit by violence. Scores of people - mainly opposition supporters and activists - were killed or beaten in the run-up to elections in 1998.

This one appears to be passing off comparatively smoothly, but rights groups have flagged up ruling party control of the media as a problem.

Human Rights Watch has also condemned the killing earlier this month of a journalist who wrote for a newspaper linked to the Sam Rainsy Party.

Both international and domestic monitors will be on hand to monitor the polls on Sunday.

==========================

Friday, 25 July 2008 (BBC News UK)

Q&A: Cambodian election

Cambodians go to the polls on 27 July for an election widely expected to return Prime Minister Hun Sen to power. The BBC looks at the parties and issues involved in the polls.

What is the current situation?

Cambodia's first general election took place in 1993, after decades of civil war. Sunday's poll will be the country's fourth.

The Cambodian People's Party (CPP) remains firmly in control. Its leader, one-time Khmer Rouge fighter Hun Sen, has been at the head of Cambodian politics for 23 years.

When the CPP came second in polls in 1993, he was forced into a power-sharing deal with royalist party Funcinpec, but he then seized total control in a 1997 coup. The CPP went on to secure the most votes in polls in 1998 and 2003.

The Sam Rainsy Party, named after its outspoken French-educated leader, is currently the strongest opposition force. Funcinpec - which remains in the governing coalition - appears weakened after the ouster of leader Norodom Ranariddh, who lives overseas after being convicted in absentia of breach of trust.

Are we expecting any surprises?

Not really. A total of 11 parties are contesting the polls, but the CPP looks set to win power for another five years. It has mounted a massive campaign aimed at building on its 73 seats in the 123-seat chamber - so there is a possibility it might end its coalition with Funcinpec.

The Sam Rainsy Party is popular in the capital but appears less so in rural areas.

The new Human Rights Party, led by government critic Kem Sokha, could erode some of its support. Other parties have been weakened by defections and internal fighting.

Will it be free and fair?

Polls in 1998 and, to a lesser extent, 2003 were marred by violence that mainly targeted opposition candidates and supporters. But so far campaigning for this election appears to be passing off smoothly.

However on 11 July journalist Khim Sambo, 47, and his 21-year-old son were shot and killed in Phnom Penh. Khim Sambo wrote for the Moneaksekar Khmer newspaper, which is affiliated to the Sam Rainsy Party. Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said that the killing appeared "intended to send a message not to engage in opposition politics".

The election build-up has also been marred by "intense and systematic efforts by the CPP to pressure opposition party members… to defect to the CPP", the rights group added in a statement. A number of Cambodian NGOs have also raised concerns about political intimidation of opposition candidates and activists.

As well as this, the CPP controls almost all media outlets in the country, giving it a strong campaign advantage. Media reports about candidates from ruling parties and opposition parties had been "quite imbalanced", the Asian Network for Free Elections said in a statement.

Several domestic and international monitors will observe the polls.

What are the main election issues?

Khmer Rouge rule left the Cambodian economy utterly devastated. But in the 30 years since the Maoist regime fell, things have steadily got better. In recent years investment has increased and both the tourist and garment industries have contributed to high economic growth - all of which favour the current government.

But the economy is currently facing a number of challenges. Rising food and fuel prices have pushed inflation to a new high, and there is growing unemployment. Cambodia's garment industry is also coming under increased competition from China and corruption blights many people's daily lives. That, a growing rich-poor divide and a culture of impunity for the rich and powerful have led to rumbling social discontent.

There is one other issue in the mix. A military stand-off with Thailand over the border temple of Preah Vihear - recently listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site - has generated a swell of nationalist pride, which is thought to give the CPP a pre-election boost.

Labels: CPP, Election, hun sen, Sam Rainsy, Sam Rainsy Party

Cambodian parties make final push for votes

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Cambodian Parties Make Final Push for Votes

KAMPONG CHAM, Cambodia (AFP) — Cambodian politicians made a final push for votes on the last day of campaigning Friday for an election Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party is expected to dominate.

Soaring nationalist sentiments have powered the campaigns, fuelled by a 10-day military standoff with neighbouring Thailand over a small patch of disputed land near the ruins of the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple.

The most frenetic campaigning took place in Kampong Cham province, home to one million of the eight million people registered to cast ballots Sunday.

Just after dawn Friday, thousands of opposition supporters waved flags and rode through the town of Kampong Cham on the backs of trucks and motorcycles, blaring party policies from speakers.

The day wound down with a candlelight vigil in Phnom Penh, with Sam Rainsy supporters wearing white shirts and caps bearing the party's candle logo.

But few expect voters to oust the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), which has ruled since the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge nearly three decades ago.

Hun Sen has held the top job for 23 years, and voters are widely expected to hand him another five-year term.

His party loudly touts recent economic growth in Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries, which has averaged 11 percent over the last three years.

Tensions over Preah Vihear only enhanced Hun Sen's standing, helping the CPP portray itself as the defender of the nation.

"The voters realise we did a lot -- building roads, schools, health care, and especially the economy. Preah Vihear is the latest thing," Phnom Penh mayor Kep Chuktema told an early CPP rally in the capital.

"We saved the lives of Cambodian people from the genocide. We gave people lives. From zero in 1979, Phnom Penh now has everything. From ghost city, now Phnom is a very good city," he said, with music blaring as 10,000 CPP supporters filled a riverside boulevard with a carnival atmosphere.

Although the CPP is tipped to win a large majority, the party mounted a massive campaign, parading in shiny new vehicles while covering the country with posters and the airwaves with promises of further development.

"The CPP campaigns are much fancier than those of other parties... The CPP outsmarts other political parties because those parties haven't achieved much at all," said Neang Sovath of the election monitoring group Comfrel.

More than 13,000 domestic and international observers are set to monitor the 15,000 polling stations.

The campaign has seen fewer irregularities and less violence than in the past, monitors say, partly because the nation is more stable, with garment exports and tourism helping pull Cambodia from the ashes of civil war.

Hun Sen's CPP expects to expand its control over the 123-seat parliament, hoping to add eight seats to the 73 it already holds, which would cement his ruthless drive to secure his grip on power.

He lost Cambodia's first elections, backed by the United Nations in 1993, but bargained his way into a power-sharing deal and then reasserted total control in a 1997 coup.

Hundreds of people were killed in the run-up to elections the following year. Protests against the CPP victory were put down violently.

The last national election in 2003 was less violent but plunged the kingdom into a year of political stalemate that resulted in a coalition with the royalist Funcinpec.

The royalists have since imploded over internal scandals, while Sam Rainsy is expected to win few votes outside the capital.

Labels: CPP, Election, hun sen, Sam Rainsy, Sam Rainsy Party

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Editorial | Articles about Cambodia | Khmer

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Party factionalism looms behind Ke Kim Yan sacking

Party factionalism looms behind Ke Kim Yan sacking: observers

Monday, January 26, 2009

Top Military Chief Sacked for Impropriety

Top Military Chief Sacked for Impropriety: Hun Sen

Monday, November 17, 2008

General Hok Lundy Was Widely Feared

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Sunday, October 12, 2008

In Cold blood

In Cold blood

"They had no fear of being arrested. They weren’t wearing helmets and made no attempt to disguise their identity" - Chan Soveth, of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association"

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Election Results Adjusted for Fraud Give Fewer Seats to CPP

Election Results Adjusted for Fraud Give Fewer Seats to CPP

Giving up freedoms to settle for 'peace'

Giving Up Freedoms to Settle for 'Peace'

Royalist Parties U-Turn and Accept Cambodia Poll Results

Royalist Parties U-Turn and Accept Cambodia Poll Results

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Flawed System Sullies Cambodia's Election

Flawed System Sullies Cambodia's Election

CAMBODIA: Polls Were Fair - EU Observers

CAMBODIA: Polls Were Fair - EU Observers

EU Criticises Cambodia Election

EU Criticises Cambodia Election

Monitors from the European Union Say Cambodia's Recent General Election Fell Short of International Standards.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Four Main Parties Reject 'Sham' Election

Four Main Parties Reject 'Sham' Election

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Facts and Figures on Cambodia's Parliamentary Elections

Facts and Figures on Cambodia's Parliamentary Elections

Cambodian Ruling Party Heads to Poll Win

Cambodian Ruling Party Heads to Poll Win

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Concerns and Recommendations for Electoral Observer and Monitors for July 26 and 27

Concerns and Recommendations for Electoral Observer and Monitorsfor July 26 and 27

Friday, July 25, 2008

Cambodia Parties in Pre-Poll Push

Cambodia Parties in Pre-Poll Push

Q&A: Cambodian election

Cambodian parties make final push for votes

Cambodian Parties Make Final Push for Votes

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Concerns and Recommendations for Electoral Observer and Monitors
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