Despite some problems, the official campaign period for April’s commune elections has so far proceeded smoothly, the National Election Committee said Thursday, though election officials remain wary that the environment might become more confrontational as polling day approaches.
During a press conference at the NEC’s Phnom Penh headquarters, NEC officials said that no serious violence had been reported since the campaign period began March 16, and that 14 of 18 official complaints made to the election body have already been resolved.
But there will be more large rallies in the second week of the campaign, which could spell more confrontation, said NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha.
“Please enforce morality for your officials,” he told political parties present at the press conference.
Muth Channtha, Norodom Ranariddh Party spokesman and cabinet chief, said the campaign environment is not as positive as the NEC claims.
“It is a lie to say that the campaigns are free and fair,” he said at the press conference, adding that there have been instances of threats and intimidation around the country that have not been reported to the NEC.
The NRP wrote in a statement Tuesday that it has filed complaints over 15 instances of obstruction by the ruling CPP in the first five days of the campaign period.
Tep Nytha said by telephone that minor problems have been solved on the ground by commune election commission officials rather than being lodged as official complaints.
Muth Channtha also disputed that that the NEC had granted equitable time to political parties on state-run TVK.
The NEC this year granted parties running in more than 1,000 communes six minutes of free air time and smaller parties five minutes to disseminate their platforms twice daily. Muth Channtha said that the NRP’s 6-minute spot had been cut down.
Kosolac Typor, deputy secretary general of the NEC and chairman of the NEC’s equity program, said that two words deemed inappropriate had been edited out of the NRP’s spot, and that this did not significantly reduce the party’s allotted amount of time.
Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kanharith dismissed Muth Channtha’s claims. “The Norodom Ranariddh Party has learned to complain from the Sam Rainsy Party,” he said. However, he said, “they cannot be as good [at complaining] as the Sam Rainsy Party.”
The Committee for Free and Fair Elections on Thursday said that it has received reports of 20 cases of threats or intimidation, 30 instances of obstruction, two cases of minor violence and four cases of CPP vote-buying since the campaign period began.
While there have been fewer violations so far than in the 2002 commune election campaign, they are occurring more frequently as the campaign period progresses, said Mar Sophal, Comfrel monitoring coordinator.
Comfrel sent a letter to the NEC this week naming 15 private television channels, radio stations and newspapers that have been covering the campaigns with a bias toward one party, and asking the NEC to intervene, he said. Comfrel declined to publicly name the media outlets.
Tep Nytha said that the NEC has issued notices to media outlets broadcasting biased coverage.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Tomei.)
