As parties prepare to start official campaigning Thursday, the Khmer Help Khmer party said it will withdraw from the July 27 general elections, saying that the elections will not be free and fair.
Officials at the National Election Committee said the party’s allegations were unfounded and that, despite its protests, the party would remain on the ballot, which began printing last week.
Also, parties this week are poised to sign a regulated code of conduct barring the use of intimidation and public funds, and a US-based NGO announced details of a series of candidate debates to be aired on television.
Tep Nitha, NEC secretary-general said Sunday that the Khmer Help Khmer Party, with 45 registered candidates, had requested that its name be removed from the ballot, but election laws prevent the NEC from formally disqualifying a party solely upon request.
He added that the party would be unable to recoup money it paid to register for the election.
Regarding a statement from the Khmer Help Khmer Party that the elections were already tainted, he said, “It is their right to say what they want, but so far the local and international organizations that work on the elections haven’t evaluated the process like that.”
Meanwhile, the 22 other competing parties are eyeing Thursday’s start for official campaigning.
The Hang Dara Democratic Movement Party has already prepared signs, buttons and T-shirts to distribute, said party President Hang Dara.
As loyalties become more visible, however, Hang Dara worried that his supporters—many of whom fought CPP forces near the Thai border after 1997 factional fighting—were facing intimidation by authorities there.
“Although I have filed a lot of complaints about the intimidation cases on my party activists, the NEC and the Ministry of Interior don’t solve the problem,” Hang Dara said.
Peous Sothik, secretary-general of the Norodom Chakrapong Proloeung Khmer Party, said the party has also prepared its campaigning materials, but the campaign would rely on grass-roots efforts.
“We will send our party activists to conduct the campaign at the level of the voters’ communities,” he said.
Peous Sothik added that the party would refrain from the popular practice of offering gifts to potential voters. “We explain to the voters that those gifts come from money the ruling party gets from selling national property,” he said.
Neither he nor Hang Dara would disclose how much money they expected to spend campaigning.
On Tuesday, the parties will formally agree to an NEC-drafted document outlining a code of conduct for parties and candidates.
The document includes measures forbidding the use of public funds or resources for party purposes, and obliging parties to promote accuracy and balance in publicly funded news broadcasts.
The use of violence or intimidation, as well as language that might incite violence, is also barred, the draft document states.
It also asks that parties “accept the final outcome of elections lawfully supervised, declared and certified by the NEC.”
Also, starting Thursday, candidates from the CPP, Funcinpec and Sam Rainsy Party will begin a set of debates sponsored by the US-based National Democratic Institute.
