bati district, Takeo province – After more than a month of finger-pointing, name-calling and threats leading up to the elections, many villagers in the northern districts of Takeo province said they are willing to set aside their grudges and continue business as usual once they’ve cast their ballots.
“After the election, even with all the accusations that have gone on, we will not make problems with other parties,” said Soeur Hoeun, 65, a CPP representative in Prey Kabbas district’s Trapaing Sdok village.
On the eve of the election, Soeur Hoeun said some villagers had complained that Funcinpec representatives were buying votes and plotting other election fraud schemes. As a result, suspicion had escalated between the two parties.
But, he said, the relationships between supporters of the opposing parties would return to normal once the elections were over.
“When we walk past each other, we still say ‘Hello. How are you?’ We don’t have resentments,” he said.
In the same village, Lay Sim, 67, said her family made a report to local authorities against her neighbor, a Funcinpec activist, after he offered to bribe her husband into voting for the royalist party.
Lay Sim said the party activist, who resides only a few houses away from hers, paid her husband 3,000 riel the day before the election.
Still, she said, she harbors no ill will against her neighbor.
She added: “It won’t affect my husband’s vote, because we still vote for the party we like.”
For others, though, re-establishing friendly relations with their fellow villagers may not be so easy.
Long Samon, a Tram Kak district representative for Funcinpec, said his life was threatened by his village chief after an argument erupted between the two of them over whether he had the right to display the party’s posters.
He said the dispute reached such proportions that the chief, who belonged to the CPP, brought other villagers to his house to intimidate him.
“The village chief asked me not to leave my house [the night before the election], otherwise I would be shot,” he said. “I feel scared because they came here with guns.”
On the day of the elections, however, officials reported little disturbance at the polling stations.
At one station in Bati district’s Trapaing Trayeung village, the atmosphere resembled a community picnic as people gathered with their families to buy snacks and drinks while they waited to cast their votes.
The elderly lounged in lawn chairs and chatted with each other while small children played nearby.
“There is no violence. There are no problems here. The people just come here and they have a good time,” said Chan Yem, a CPP commune chief and election security official.
The village’s Sam Rainsy Party representative, Uk Phan, 70, agreed.
“So far, so good,” he said. “No one has cheated.”
But, lowering his voice so none of his rivals would hear, he said that he believed many residents in the area secretly supported Sam Rainsy and didn’t want others in the village to know. He said he wasn’t afraid of intimidation from opposing parties but he was still skeptical of whether the results would reflect a “free and fair election.”
“If we are disappointed, we will protest in the village,” he said.
Others also had lingering worries about the outcome.
“I don’t think the election will be free and fair because people who belong to the CPP disturb other parties and the authorities never take them to court,” said Po Sothea, a candidate and deputy committee executive for Funcinpec in Takeo province.
Po Sothea said he had received more than 18 reported cases of election violations from his members, including intimidation, voter card theft, and the destruction of Funcinpec signs.
He said, however, this election had so far been an improvement over previous ones, echoing the sentiments of many other election observers.
“I believe that people have been awakened. In the past, when people were intimidated, they dared not tell us. Right now, they know their rights and they dare report such cases to us,” Po Sothea said.
