NGOs Oppose Plan to Cancel Senate Elections

Several human rights and election monitoring groups have voiced their objection to the proposal to cancel next year’s constitutionally mandated Senate elections, while King Norodom Siha­nouk has elaborated his position on the issue.

“Civil society does not support amending the Constitution [to cancel the elections]. It degrades the implementation of democracy in Cambodia if [the Constitution] can be amended at any time to meet whatever political need,” the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, the Neutral, Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections, Star Kampuchea, Ad­hoc and Licadho stated in a joint news release Thursday.

Leaders of Funcinpec and the CPP said recently that because the government cannot afford the 2004 senatorial elections, lawmakers are discussing canceling them and having the King ap­point senators instead.

“The argument that there is insufficient funding to hold an election is not reasonable,” the rights groups said. “This is a pretext to de­lay the election because the government has failed to do its utmost to seek sources [of funding].”

The Cambodian Center for Hu­man Rights, headed by former Funcinpec senator Kem Sokha, expressed a similar view in a statement on Wednesday.

In a statement Thursday, King Sihanouk recalled the events that led to the formation of the Senate in 1998. “‘One’ created the Senate and ‘one’ utilized a less than dem­ocratic process when it came to the choice and appointment of the senators: This was the price paid for national reconciliation, peace for the Country, the Nation and the People, and the stability of the state,” the King wrote.

“So that there would no longer be a ‘problem’ between Samdech Norodom Ranariddh and Sam­dech Hun Sen, who would be the only Prime Minister of Cambo­dia, the CPP and Samdech Chea Sim wanted to give the Presi­dency of the National Assembly to Sam­dech Norodom Ra­na­riddh,” King Sihanouk said.

“It was then necessary to make Samdech Chea Sim the Pres­ident of a Senate to be created,” the King added. “But now, in 2003 or 2004, reason commands us to entrust to the sovereign People the duty of electing their sen­ators…if there has to be a Sen­ate.”