Last week’s fatal shooting of Sam Rainsy Party activist Uch Horn has alarmed election monitors, who say this most recent act of violence could mar next year’s commune vote.
“A climate of political violence affects the observers, the voters, and the political parties,” said Koul Panha, director of the election monitoring group Comfrel, calling such acts the biggest threat to the fairness of the elections scheduled for February.
“Elections should be a time where people can enjoy the right to exercise their will and vote according to their consciences,” Koul Panha said at a Comfrel workshop that ended Tuesday.
In addition to political violence, Koul Panha estimated that 92 percent of eligible voters are ignorant about the elections. He said he hopes this ignorance can be fought by broadcasting information on television using state media.
But, he said, as an NGO, Comfrel can only suggest procedures and provide information to the National Election Committee, which then deals with the state media.
Due to the partisan nature of the CPP-dominated NEC, he said this education attempt suffers from censorship and quarreling with TV companies, who demand money for what should be a free service.
The ruling party’s current monopoly of the NEC is also problematic when it comes to appointing officials for the provincial and municipal election commissions.
The law states that members of these bodies cannot be affiliated with any government parties or military. But Koul Panha is skeptical that the NEC will honor such constraints.
This week election observers were trained at about 200 Comfrel workshops across the country. So far, Koul Panha is happy with this area of the election effort.
“Last election, our courses were limited to lectures. Now, the observers participate in role playing activities to practice handling problems at voting stations,” he said.
The next big task for Comfrel will be voter registration at the end of this month. The three-day registration will take place using 2,150 mobile teams to cover the country’s 1,621 communes.
Koul Panha expressed concern that some potential voters could be barred from registering if they were unable to provide birth certificates or identity cards.
