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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Ensure credible representation of community
interests within the Commune Council that includes
participation by local reputable persons and representatives
of significant minorities.
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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.
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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
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Embody proactive measures to encourage women
to stand for election, including deleting the requirement to
be part of a candidate list.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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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