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NGO Statement, 2000 Consultative Group Meeting On Cambodia


 COMMUNE ELECTIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS


NGO Statement to the 2000 Consultative Group Meeting on Cambodia

- Home.................................
- About us.............................
- Message.............................

- Introduction........................
- Progress.............................
- Good Governance................
- Human Resource 
- Development
......................
- Reaching the Poor...............
- Conclusion..........................

Sectoral Papers..................

- Agriculture..........................
- Child’s Rights....................
- Commune Administration 
- and Decentralization
............
- Commune Elections..........
- Disability and Rehabilitation..
- Education............................
- Fisheries.............................
- Forestry Reform..................
- Gender and Development.....
- Good Governance................
- Health................................
- HIV/AIDS...........................
- Human Rights......................
- Landmines..........................
- Land Reform.......................
- Microfinance........................
- Weapons Reduction.............

General NGO Information...

References.........................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


INTRODUCTION

As NGOs committed to the democratization and social development of Cambodia, we welcome the plans of the Royal Government of Cambodia to hold commune elections. The purpose of such local level elections should be to increase the participation of local communities in local development.

The political tensions that have beset Cambodia since the introduction of multiparty democracy have only recently eased. NGOs express the hope that the election of commune councils is not politicized and that a strong sense of accountability and willingness on the part of local representatives to serve their constituents is promoted. Leading up to the polls, NGOs expect to play a vital impartial educational role, informing citizens how to register and cast their votes, recognize irregularities and safeguard their right to a secret ballot.

Given the importance of free and fair elections for the lives of all Cambodians, NGOs have been promoting discussion on the draft Commune Council Election Law and draft Commune Administration Law. As a result of such discussions, NGOs have a number of points to raise.

KEY ISSUES

  • System of voting
    Article 16 of the draft Commune Administration law stipulates that a commune council is elected under a system of proportional representation. It is assumed that this article will be implemented by way of a closed list system of proportional representation in which the party or equivalent group or organization prepares its list of candidates and deter- mines the order of candidates on that list. However, there are serious misgivings concerning the suitability of this system for elections at the commune level.

    For commune councils to work effectively, there needs to be a strong sense of account- ability and willingness on the part of commune council members to serve the interests of their local communities, as opposed to serving the interests of national political parties. The electoral system should not result in undue domination by any particular group at the expense of other groups or individuals legitimately representing local interests. However, under a proportional voting system, candidates may be more concerned about securing a high position on a political party's candidate list than about being responsive to local needs. 

    It is important that the Commune Council Election Law provides maximum opportunity for independent, non-partisan candidates to stand for election and to be represented on commune councils. The system of closed-list proportional representation presents an undue burden on individual candidates in comparison with existing organized political parties due to the requirement to organize within a short period of time a list of candidates double the number of seats on the commune council. Candidates without political party backing will be essentially excluded from the election if it is also necessary to collect signatures of supporters across more than one commune or province. 

    A public opinion survey conducted by the Center for Advanced Study (CAS) and a series of public forums held in 13 provinces by the election monitor coalitions, Comfrel, Coffel and Nicfec, indicate a prevailing trend of misgivings about the use of the propor- tional system in the commune council elections. The public forums held by Comfrel, Coffel and Nicfec indicate an over- whelming preference for independent candidates.

  • Role of Women in Commune Council Elections
    Women have a vital role to play in the planned commune council elections and in the local government that will be implemented by these commune councils; however the current levels of women's representation in Cambodia are very low. Therefore, proactive measures are needed to facilitate and promote women's participation and such measures should be adequate- ly reflected in the drafting of the Commune Administration Law and the Commune Council Election Law to be presented to the National Assembly. Experience in other countries suggests that the promotion of women's participation in local governance may also have a positive effect on the ability of local governments to effectively tackle issues such a clean water, sanitation, health care and conflict resolution.

    NGOs are confident that measures to increase the participation of women, if adopted into law, would receive vigorous support from civil society through civic and voter education programs. Among others, these programs would encourage women to become candidates for commune councils and assure women voters of their right to vote according to their conscience for the candidates best capable of representing their interests.

  • The role of NGO election monitors
    In the 1998 national elections, NGOs played an important role as official observers reporting on the integrity of the election and various irregularities. However, unlike the political parties, they were not permitted to lodge complaints with the NEC. This limited their ability to play an effective role. Some problems also arose when organisations without the necessary expertise received accreditation as election monitors. 

  • Reform of the National Election Committee
    In the 1998 national elections, the election was supervised by an 11-member National Election Committee (NEC). A number of appointments to this committee were political, and this affected the NEC's perceived neutrality and ability to solve disputes arising from the election. The committee is unnecessarily large, resulting in undue cost and unwieldy decision making.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to foster a spirit of participatory democracy, NGOs recommend the following:

System of voting

  • Embody proactive measures to prevent the politicization of the election of commune councils and the emergence of the kind of political competition that could possibly lead to a re-escalation of tensions.

  • Ensure credible representation of community interests within the Commune Council that includes participation by local reputable persons and representatives of significant minorities.

  • Allow equitable opportunity for local reputable persons not aligned with any particular political party to run in their individual capacity as candidates for commune council. 

  • Conduct elections in such a way that voters are clearly aware of the identify of the individual candidates and vote primarily according to their preference and confidence in the competence and integrity of these candidates, regardless of political party allegiance or absence thereof.

In order to achieve the above recommendations, amend Article 16 of the draft Commune Administration Law to read as follows: "A commune council is elected under a system in which voters are able to choose candidates by their individual names. This system shall be specified in the Commune Council Election Law." 

An amendment of Article 16 necessitates amending the last paragraph of Article 17 to stipulate the holding of a by-election in the event that a commune council member must be replaced. Furthermore, Articles 33- 36 would need to be amended to stipulate that individual candidates with the highest number of votes would be appointed as commune council chairperson and first and second deputy. These Articles would be better placed in the Commune Council Election law.

Role of Women in Commune Council Elections

  • Embody proactive measures to encourage women to stand for election, including deleting the requirement to be part of a candidate list.

  • Assist voters to choose women candidates by showing individual names of candidates and listing women candidates separately on the ballot paper.

Role of NGO election monitors

  • Set out clear provisions in the commune council election law for NGO accreditation with regards to election monitoring; in particular specify that organizations must have adequate preparation for their monitoring and educational roles and be able to demonstrate previous experience in election work.

  • Expand the role of NGOs to allow election monitoring, not only observation, and permit election monitors to lodge complaints against irregularities.

Reform of the National Election Committee

  • Reform the National Election Committee (NEC), and reduce the composition to five non-partisan members, providing better assurances of its independence as "umpire" to ensure free and fair elections.

  • Introduce improvements to the voter registration process and strengthen the transparency of vote counting, in order to prevent some of the difficulties that arose in the 1998 national elections. More effective procedures are necessary to allow election results to be finalized and officially announced within a shorter period.





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