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Election Reforms |
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(i)
Introduction The
recently completed commune council election was an important step towards
the decentralization of government authority with its aim of giving local
communities greater space in decision making. The 2002 commune council
election was marked by fewer technical irregularities compared to earlier
elections. Yet the election climate was still characterized by violence
and political intimidation, and serious concerns remain in this area. Key
problems were the unresolved partisanship of election institutions,
restrictions on efforts to inform voters of their rights and election
procedures, lack of will to resolve election violations, and serious
obstacles and disparities in media access during the election campaign. The
commune elections have resulted in an increased number of women in commune
council seats, compared with the lack of women in the previous commune
structure. However, there is still an insufficient number of women in the
communes compared to the proportion of women in society. The
outcome of the 2002 elections may also embolden hardliners to persist with
various coercive tactics to garner votes in future elections. Despite many
problems, particularly regarding political killings and intimidation,
Cambodia has seen some significant gains after the two national assembly
and commune council elections, and these offer hope fur the future of
democracy. The next step on this challenging path will come with the
holding of another National Assembly election in 2003. This election has
the potential to bring new benefits to people and to consolidate the role
of civil society. Much of this will depend on effective election reforms.
This will be largely influenced by the quality of the election process and
the extent to which voters are free and informed to elect the candidates
of their choice in order to improve accountability to the electorate. The
recommendations below present the views of NGOs collected through a series
of public consultations, the comments of Election Monitoring Groups (EMOs),
provincial networks and the recent discussion of coalitions of election
monitoring groups and other NGOs related to human/women rights and
democracy. Most of the recommendations from previous statements to the CG
meeting 2000 and 2001 are still valid and put forward, while the following
recommendations are the main priorities that would improve the election
reforms in significant ways: (1) The NEC should be composed of five
members who would maintain a neutral,
independent and competent body, (2)
The electoral system should be mixed so that it may encourage
candidates from a non-political party background (3) A quota of at least
30% for women in candidate lists, (4) strengthening the competence and
power of the tribunal to deal with electoral infractions, (5) the role of
the NEC to ensure equitable access to electronic media and an effective
election campaign and voter education. (ii)
Key Issues & Recommendations I.
Electoral Body The
current mandate of the National Election Committee (NEC) is coming to an
end and this offers opportunity for a much-needed reform at this body. The
NEC held a partisan composition and had no credibility, although article
11 and 12 of chapter 3 states that “the National Assembly Election laws
shall be administered by the National Election Committee, (NEC). The NEC
shall be an independent and neutral body in carrying out its
tasks/competence”. Despite this, the selection of the NEC members was
conducted without a clear definition of such vital criteria as
“neutrality”. Therefore,
the mode of selection was neither professional nor competent, but was the
basis of a political compromise with all of the members belonging to
political parties. The
post-1998 National Assembly election was overshadowed by a regretful
tragedy where innocent people were killed. This tragedy was caused by
election-related conflicts not being dealt with in a neutral and fair
manner, such as the rejection to recount ballots in several polling
stations. In both the 1998 National Assembly election and 2002 commune
council election, vote buying, threats and intimidation were not tackled
because the NEC was politically biased. During the commune council
election, in particular, the NEC was partial and it did not take any
reasonable measure to promote equitable media access for political parties
participating in the election to broadcast their policies and political
platforms. The
above-mentioned concerns were due to the lack of a legal framework. Thus,
NGOs propose the following recommendations: 1-
Amend chapter 3 of the
National Assembly election law, election administration, which states the
elaboration of the NEC -
Component five members (no political representative and they should
all be figures)
-
Nomination procedure: Establish one recruitment committee, which consists
of the following components: representatives of political parties having
National Assembly seats, non-governmental organizations and the Cambodian
Bar Association. 2-
Strengthen the function and competence of the NEC members to ensure their
independence and neutrality. The law applies to the NEC, thus if they
violate any of the above mentioned criteria, they have to be aware of the
consequences. In addition, there needs to be a provision that guarantees
the state’s obligation not to interfere with NEC. II Electoral System: Right of Independent Groups to Contest as Candidates to Improve Accountability The
proportional system of the 1998 National Assembly election, which states
that candidates must be appointed solely by political parties, will not
encourage leaders to be accountable to their constituencies. This system
allows political party leaders to have political power to decide the
nomination of the candidates. The
elected representatives were threatened to be expelled from their position
as representatives of the political parties if they did not work towards
the parties’ interests. If they were accused of committing misconduct
against political party lines they would likewise be dismissed Therefore,
the first step for the upcoming 2003 National Assembly elections is to
establish a system which is suitable and has acceptable principles to
increase the political rights to stand in the elections and upgrade the
accountability of elected representatives to the citizens. An amendment to
the law for National Elections should stipulate a provision for extending
opportunities for non-partisan independent candidates as per the following
recommendations: -
Electoral system: Proportional system with independent group III
Equitable Gender in Election Presentation (Participation of Women as
Representatives) As
a result of the commune elections, there are more than 8% of female
commune councilors. However, this low percentage still falls short of our
expectations and does not represent the proportion of women in Cambodia (51%). We
urge the Royal Government and all political parties that are committed to
improving the situation of women in Cambodia to encourage women to stand
as female candidates and to approve the following proposal. The
proposal is based on a quota of at least 30% of female candidates
on both political party and non-political party candidates’
lists. Female candidate ‘s names should alternate with male
candidate’s names starting from the top of the candidate list. This
quota should also be stated in the electoral legal framework or the policy
in order to provide women a
more effective opportunity to take part in social and political fairs IV. The Enforcement of
Electoral Infraction Hearing Process To
make the elections more just and fair the mechanisms to punish electoral
law violators, for example in relation to the cases of vote buying and
intimidation, must be addressed efficiently and coherently. So far, NEC
has failed to carry out serious investigations and verdicts against
perpetrators of such cases of intimidation. Furthermore, the electoral
infraction procedure was not clarified between the NEC and the court, so
the two groups interpreted the law to suit their interests. For instance,
the NEC issued a directive guideline to its lower staff to organize a
hearing body for electoral infractions; but, in reality, this was under
jurisdiction of the courts. The police forces had a serious lack of
understanding regarding the electoral infraction procedure and penalties.
The following recommendations are aimed at improving the mechanism: -
Disseminate information and train court officials, policemen and
the general public on the electoral infractions. V.
Broadcasting Media Access and Debates There
were no improvements regarding electronic media access to allow the
effective election campaigns of the political parties. Radio and
television is where most of the population acquires its news and
statements of political development. Yet, confirming the trend observed
during the election process, the ruling party was still the main political
actor covered in the electronic media channels monitored, leaving very
limited time for the political parties competing for elections. The
broadcasting media did not provide equal access to the political parties.
Yet, article 132 of the election campaign chapter encourages NEC to
organize comprehensive programs whereby state-run radios, newspapers, and
televisions broadcast, free of charge, all news requested by NEC in order
to disseminate the progress of the election and the election education. In
addition, chapter 8 of NEC’s regulation for election campaign affirms
that political parties may use private radios and TVs. The chapter also
suggests NEC to meet the managing directors of media to discuss and take
measures to use its media. The
political party campaigns seemed to be more like advertisements than
election campaigns. The campaigns were not very helpful to the general
public. The election campaign should be a process to inform the voters
about the content of each political party’s goals and commitments.
Unfortunately, broadcasting political party debates via television and
radio was not permitted by the NEC regulations. Therefore, the right of
the people to be aware of the political party debates through television
and radio was not fulfilled. During
the electoral campaign, the citizens could only hear the voices of each
political party from the streets. They were not aware of the political
parties’ promises or platforms. According to a COMFREL survey, 88% of
the participants in 1998 election campaigns did not remember the promises
of the political parties. The
electoral campaign is not meaningful for the citizens, most of them do not
understand what (why or how) the political parties would do if they won
the election. To
improve the election campaign, recommendations for improving the election,
laws and NEC regulations should stipulate the clear role of NEC to ensure
the equal access of political parties to electronic media The government
should expand airtime of TV and radio for the NEC and NGOs to run voter
education and political party campaigns. The NEC should take proactive
measures to ensure the candidates debate on their political platforms and
to broadcast their debates. |
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