The dismissal of a complaint about CPP gift-giving led to a shouting match at National Election Committee headquarters Wednesday and again spurred criticism of the committee’s willingness to tackle corruption in the electoral process.
Funcinpec parliamentarian Sok San refused to sign the NEC’s decision to dismiss his complaint, yelled at NEC President Im Suosdey and stormed out of the hourlong hearing. “The NEC really is the paper tiger! They have received salaries from the government and they are biased,” he told reporters as he left the building. “I appeal to the donor countries not to offer aid anymore to the NEC.”
Royalist officials had charged that Minister of Royal Palace Kong Som Ol, a CPP member, handed out party shirts in Kompong Tralach district, Kompong Chhnang province, on June 29.
Lung Mat, 29, told a three-person NEC panel that he saw the gift distribution and received a shirt himself, but NEC officials cleared the CPP on the basis that gifts were distributed to party members inside party headquarters.
Article 123 of the election law forbids “the offering of material or monetary incentives to buy votes.” Violators are to be stripped of their candidacy and can be fined between $1,250 and $6,250.
The hearing was the first of four heard by the panel. All were dismissed.
The Sam Rainsy Party heard its complaint over a July 2 campaign stop at which the opposition leader became the target of rock- and stick-throwing residents of the capital’s Chamkar Mon district.
Nou Sok Vath, the party member who filed the complaint, identified Meas Dalin and Ros Pov as two of the assailants at the hearing. But Ros Pov denied throwing anything and said one of Sam Rainsy’s bodyguards slapped her. NEC officials said the party had failed to notify local officials it would be campaigning in the area, exonerating the alleged attackers.
In two separate complaints, the opposition party alleged that two village chiefs in Phnom Penh had stopped supporters from handing out party leaflets.
Ly Sovichea, a lawyer for the Sam Rainsy Party, was not surprised by the outcome. “I anticipated that I will never win a complaint,” he said. “I filed the complaint because I want the NEC to have a headache and be busy.”
All of the cases were appealed to the NEC after being dismissed by provincial election committees.
In other election news, the National Police announced again that none of the 11 recent killings of political activists was related to the elections.
“Our investigations have shown that those killings were related to robbery, revenge or domestic violence. Those cases didn’t relate to political violence,” said Mao Chandara, deputy director general of the National Police.
The announcement came after a bloody 48 hours in which a Funcinpec member and two family members were killed in Kompong Chhnang province and a Sam Rainsy Party supporter was axed to death in Pursat province.
Also, the NEC issued a public announcement asking election monitors to maintain neutrality. Some international groups, including the US-based International Republican Institute, have come under fire for aiding parties.
Election law forbids parties from “receiving contributions in any form, from state institutions, associations, nongovernmental organizations, public enterprises, public institutes or foreign corporations.”
Today, Prince Norodom Ranariddh will preside over a rally in Kompong Cham province, where Sam Rainsy will also campaign.
