On electoral reform

Emptying the ballot box: voting was still a lottery for millions of Cambodians at the last general election where the main opposition party was allowed to make some gains in seats in the National Assembly, but not enough to form a new government - School of Vice

Re: RFI interviewing Prum Sokha, Ministry of the Interior's Secretary of State, on NEC

by School of Vice

An individual's 'moral character' [9th member of NEC] rather than party affiliation, will ensure presumed impartiality and independence of the 'new' electoral body? It all hinges on the precise veto power of this 9th candidate, or how much operative influence will have been attached to his/her role.

Since the CPP was installed in power in 1979 no one had ever defied or broken rank with the 'party line' and got away with it. The fact that the last general election result was announced by 'Mr Whiskey' [Kiev Kanharith, who was/is of the Information Ministry] instead of the nominal heads of the NEC [some claim even before the counting finished], shows the utter contempt the CPP leadership has for institutional formalities when its grip on power and the status quo are threatened.

Prum Sokha is lying through his teeth here; and one would expect nothing less from these hordes of sycophants and yes-men who have long lost all traces of morality, good character, dignity and all the premiums one would place upon or associate with a person of conscience and nobility.

The Opposition needs to think hard and carefully about what it can realistically expect and want to get out of this electoral reform. Steer well clear of Sihanouk's and Funcinpec's sentimental and costly blunders. These people are not 'Khmers'; their speeches and physical expressions may lull one into believing that they are, yet there is nothing that they have done over the last three decades that suggest they remotely care which direction the nation is heading. They may have all the instruments of violence and power at present, but they are in a minority and these tools will not last without lasting popular support. That they always resort to brutality and violence tells us that they acknowledge this basic insecurity in themselves and, the movement that aspires to dislodge them should NOT reward them by making accommodating concessions every time they strike in that fashion. Not even in words should this reliance on brute force be encouraged by the opposing movement, as Mr Rainsy himself had regrettably committed.

Outsiders may offer suggestions and recommendations, and if these are sound and in accord with Cambodia's fundamental interests, heed them. If not, over look them. The strongest allies are the Khmer people themselves; awaken, mobilised and poised for action and ready to assume their own destiny. This regime has been in an undeclared war with its own population since day one; it has killed, maimed, widowed, displaced hundreds of thousands through hunger, destitution, human trafficking, mass evictions, lack of medical care, so-called economic land concessions [ELCs] that destroyed or decimated their natural habitat and food source whilst implanting alien colonial settlements to outnumber and enslave them in future, and it cannot cease being in that one-sided warfare voluntarily and without stern challenges from the other side: the vast majority of Khmer people. Do not let them down, and allow an even worse violent scenario [perhaps, unimaginably violent one] to take its course owing to lack of sense or foresight.

No matter where the 9th candidate to front the new NEC is drawn from, it is imperative that the electoral process is transparent and, lends itself to verification at every level or stage, from registration to ballot counting and irregularities in terms of multiple voting, political intimidation etc. In fact, all nine members of the NEC should ideally be drawn from persons with no known party political affiliations in the first instance. The transparency of the entire electoral process as described above should override any attempt by any of those nine members to tamper the actual ballot data and outcome and thus be empowered to deliver the verdict of the electorate and produce the legitimate mandate for the next parliament.

One fails to see why the ninth member should necessarily be one from the ruling party simply by virtue of this party having a superior margin of seats, which it has claimed through hotly contested and obviously questionable means?