A Change of Guard

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Friday 1 May 2015

ERA wants to work with NEC


A man casts his vote at a polling station in Kampong Cham province during the 2013 election. Heng Chivoan


“We still have some space to work, to mitigate any risks that are going to limit freedom of expression and the right to participate in politics.”

Members of the Electoral Reform Alliance (ERA) met yesterday to develop ways to “mitigate” the impact of a controversial new election law, after an assessment of the legislation found 11 articles were worse than the old regulations.
Gathering more than a month after lawmakers adopted the law, some 20 representatives of the alliance discussed sending a “guideline” to the newly formed National Election Committee to address their serious concerns over several articles that they said undermined the principles of free and fair elections.
Among the group’s chief concerns are provisions that would levy harsh fines on NGOs deemed to have “insulted” parties and allow political parties to be disqualified for offences committed by individual members.
Conceding the law would not be amended in the short term, Koul Panha, executive director of the election monitor NGO Comfrel, said the ERA wanted to work with the bipartisan NEC to guide its implementation.
This included recommending the NEC adopt a system of warning steps and a code of conduct to regulate the election rather than rely on punitive measures, he said.
“We hope the NEC won’t rush to punish, if they do it will hurt their credibility,” he said, adding he was “hopeful” the committee would listen.
“We still have some space to work, to mitigate any risks that are going to limit freedom of expression and the right to participate in politics.”
Also among provisions criticised in the ERA’s analysis, was the decision to scrap the old law’s formula for allocating seats based on population, demography, economics and geography, and instead assign each province a set amount of seats.


“They have no justification for doing this and it’s a very risky development. it gives the ruling party power to change the allocation of seats whenever they want,” he said.
The analysis also raised concerns over the restriction limiting parties to four political street rallies during the campaign period, which – in another negative step – was reduced from 30 to 21 days.
Meanwhile, a more favourable voter registration system was among 12 provisions labelled as positive by the ERA.
The election law was central to the deal struck between the ruling CPP and opposition CNRP last year that ended the CNRP’s yearlong, postelection boycott of parliament.
CNRP spokesmen Yem Ponharith, who attended the meeting, told stakeholders he agreed with the group’s analysis and would take their concerns to his party.
NEC spokesman Hang Puthea said the committee was aware of civil society’s concerns.
“We will take their issues and put them on the table for discussion, but the decision depends on the nine members of the NEC,” he said.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Since the signing of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords ending decades of civil war and foreign occupation, and with the final elimination in 1998 of armed insurgency groups inside the country, four national elections have taken place in Cambodia in 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008. The first national elections were administered by United Nations Transitional Authority for Cambodia (UNTAC) in July 1993, the first commune-level election was held in February 2002 and the Cambodian Senate was elected for the first time by the elected commune council officials in January 2006.

Three main political parties have dominated Cambodian politics over the last decade: the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), the United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC) and, more recently, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). Although the CPP dominated the elections held on July 27, 2003, it did not win the two-thirds majority required under the constitution to form a government on its own. A new government was formed on July 15, 2004 after protracted negotiations between the CPP and FUNCINPEC on forming a coalition government.[1] In early 2006, the CPP further consolidated its hold on power by passing an amendment to the constitution through Parliament that will allow for a 50% plus one majority in the National Assembly to form a government (instead of the two-thirds majority), thereby reducing its future reliance on FUNCINPEC or another coalition partner.
learned from the past for the better!