Election Process Falls Short of International Standards

July 29, 2003

The International Republican Institute (IRI) www.iri.org has observed the election process in Cambodia since January 2003, when voter registration began, and has conducted a series of assessment missions that culminated in a major observation mission for the National Assembly elections on July 27 and 28. Christine Todd Whitman, former Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and former Governor of New Jersey, led the election observation mission of 61 credentialed observers, who assessed the final days of campaigning, the voting on election day, and the vote count in 16 provinces containing 94% of the country’s population. IRI’s delegation consisted of elected leaders, elections experts, political professionals, and foreign policy experts from the United States, Australia, Canada, China, Indonesia, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom.

Based on extensive experience in observing elections around the world, IRI’s assessment of elections encompasses all phases of the electoral process from the registration of voters, through the pre-election period, to the vote count, tabulation, the announcement of results and inauguration of a new government. This preliminary statement presents IRI’s cumulative assessment of the entire election process up to vote counting on July 28.

Summary

The National Assembly elections were an improvement over past elections in Cambodia but still fell short of recognized international standards for democratic elections. IRI welcomes the improvements made this year to the technical aspects of the election administration. The 30-day campaign allowed for more open and balanced political expression than ever before in Cambodia. The vote on election day was conducted in a generally peaceful and orderly manner.

From what we know at the moment, it is regrettable that improvement in the election process appears to have been called into doubt by allegations of questionable vote counting practices. Final resolution of the vote count will take time. IRI will continue to monitor the vote count process and will reserve final judgment on the elections until the vote count and tabulation is completed and the inauguration of a new government has taken place.

The overall election process was marred by a number of flaws. There were serious deficiencies in the voter registration process which caused confusion among voters. According to the National Election Committee (NEC) figures, one quarter of potential new voters did not register to vote. Severe restrictions on media access and significant obstacles to political activity were evident before the campaign began, and significant media imbalance in the government’s favor continued in the campaign period. As reported by various domestic and international human rights groups, throughout the entire election process, the ability of citizens to express their political views freely and engage in political activities was curtailed by political violence, widespread intimidation, and pressure on voters to vote for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

Political Environment

Several human rights organizations have investigated widespread reports of intimidation. The non-partisan Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) has documented 423 cases of politically motivated crimes and election law violations since last November, including the murders of 11 political activists (CCHR ruled out the possibility of political motivation in the murders of 14 other activists).

Political violence and intimidation have worked overwhelmingly to the benefit of CPP. While less overt than in past elections, political violence and intimidation put strong pressure on citizens to vote for CPP in a variety of ways. Documented examples include: village chiefs have gathered citizens to swear oaths to vote for CPP; opposition activists were threatened for putting up party signboards; local officials collected voter cards to cast doubt on the secrecy of the vote; and village chiefs threatened to take away the land of citizens who voted against CPP. Regrettably, another form of intimidation has been the irresponsible use of rhetoric by a number of parties inciting ethnic tensions. Whatever the form, such threats to individual safety and livelihood put powerful pressure on voters to follow directions rather than to make a free choice.

Undue influence on the process was fostered by a climate of impunity. Credible investigations of politically motivated crimes were rare, and almost no investigations resulted in credible prosecutions. The climate of impunity extended to the election law itself. CCHR, Human Rights Watch, the Cambodia Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (COHCHR), and others have documented hundreds of election law violations. Despite the clear penalties set by the election law, no such penalties were imposed until a few days before the elections, when three village chiefs were removed from their positions and a fourth village chief was fined.

Weak enforcement of the election law continued throughout the election campaign. Many major complaints of electoral violations were resolved through mediation at the local level despite electoral law specifying that conciliation should only be used for minor disputes not specified in the law. Though the NEC recently directed the Provincial Election Committees and the Commune Election Committees to be more proactive in the enforcement of the law, this instruction came too late to reduce impunity or to deter violations.

Media Access

It is important to remember that Cambodia is a country where one-third of the population is illiterate and most people get their news from television and radio. Access to broadcast media is critical to the establishment of a level playing field.

The media environment improved for the official 30-day campaign period. The 23 political parties competing in the elections were each given five minutes a day on state television and radio to present their campaign platforms. The NEC also introduced a program to give equitable news coverage of election campaigns on state media. Under this program, news broadcasts on state television and radio covered the election campaigns of political parties in rough proportion to the vote parties had won in past elections.

A deeper examination reveals that this effort to have equitable news coverage was quite limited. It applied only to a specific 15-minute segment of broadcast news dedicated to the election campaign. Overall, according to COMFREL media monitors, news broadcasts during the campaign period still devoted a clear majority of time to coverage of the government. Moreover, the equitable news coverage program applied only to state media, not to private media. The program was carried on the state television station TVK but not on the six private television stations. Opposition parties were in fact denied any access to private television when all six of the private stations jointly decided to refuse all paid political advertising.

In the important pre-campaign period, access by political parties and non-partisan opposition groups to broadcast media remained severely restricted as has been the case for a long time. All of the country’s television stations and the vast majority of radio stations are controlled by or closely affiliated with the ruling parties, particularly CPP. The government blocked efforts to expand media access by denying radio licenses to the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, and restrictions on broadcasts of independent radio.

Election Administration

The election administration for the July 2003 National Assembly elections did improve in comparison with previous elections. The National Election Committee has operated with greater transparency than in the past and has organized an election day that was relatively smooth and orderly. Key aspects of the election administration, nevertheless, raise concerns about the entire election process:

• The NEC is composed only of members appointed by the ruling coalition.
• The close identification of state structures and officials with CPP gives CPP an unfair structural advantage against other political parties.
• The voter registration process was administered in an inconsistent, confusing, and at times biased manner. As a result, about one in four potential new voters did not register to vote. Moreover, the voter lists were insufficiently updated and contained numerous deceased individuals as well as other “mistakes.”
• The printing of ballots lacked transparency. Despite the strong concerns about the need to monitor the printing of ballots, political parties and election observers were given only selective access to the factory where ballots were printed.
• Stamping the back of the ballot with symbols unique to each polling stations has raised questions about the secrecy of the vote. The vote count was organized at the commune level to prevent disclosure of how any particular village voted. This was undermined by the decision to stamp the back of each ballot with a stamp differentiating each polling station within a commune.

Campaign Period

The official 30-day campaign allowed for open expression of political opinions and for lively election campaigns. Political parties had extensive opportunities to present their platforms to voters through campaign events and direct voter contact. Multi-party debates, held for the first time in Cambodia, attracted large audiences and were broadcast on radio and television. New ground for Cambodia was also broken by media coverage that included criticism of the ruling party, the government, and the Prime Minister.

The campaign was marred, however, by widespread gift-giving by all three major parties and by anti-Vietnamese rhetoric by Funcinpec and Sam Rainsy Party leaders. This rhetoric exploited ethnic tensions and contributed to an environment in which certain registered voters were denied the opportunity to vote.

Election Day

The vote on election day generally proceeded in a peaceful and orderly manner and was conducted in accordance with election regulations. Many voters appeared determined to cast their vote despite the flaws of the pre-election period and, in some cases, despite difficulties in reaching the polling station due to flooding. In some provinces, primarily in those dominated by CPP, fewer irregularities were observed. Elsewhere, particularly in provinces where Funcinpec or SRP expected strong results, there were significant irregularities:

• At several polling stations, IRI witnessed village chiefs standing by the polling station’s entrance, taking note of who went in or checking off names on a voter list. This clearly contradicted the National Election Committee and had a potentially intimidating effect on voters. One polling station observed by IRI in Oddar Meanchey was even located in the house of a village chief.
• Significant numbers of eligible voters were unable to vote. The registration process was confusing, and many who had registered earlier this year were denied the opportunity to vote because of minor discrepancies between their voter registration documents and the voter list.
• At several polling stations, IRI observed polling station chairpersons and commune election committee members actively discouraging party agents from filing official complaints. More often, however, objections and complaints were only raised verbally because party agents did not fill out an official complaint form. Party agents often lacked a commitment to carry out their responsibilities.

Vote Count

Vote counting proceeded smoothly through the afternoon. By the evening, there were reports that party agents in many locations were not given the official results documentation, Form 1105. IRI observers visited polling places last night where unexplained delays extended the process late into the night and in some cases the process was not completed. IRI views the counting process as incomplete until this issue is resolved.

Steps Forward

The post-election period, particularly the resolution of official complaints and the subsequent acceptance of election results, will be critical to the integrity of the July 2003 National Assembly election process. Full and credible adjudication of official election complaints is essential to build confidence in the election results. A short-changed process of adjudicating complaints, as has occurred in the past, will undermine the improvements achieved in the elections this year and may contribute to post-election instability.

In the past, the Cambodian People’s Party has responded to an unfavorable election result and to a post-election deadlock with threats of violence or national upheaval. These threats resonate strongly in a country with a long history of civil conflict. While stability may seem preferable in the face of such threats, they will undermine the integrity of elections generally in Cambodia and will cast doubt on the legitimacy of the next government.

Following the announcement of election results and the inauguration of a new government, further measures will be needed to sustain the improvements achieved in this year’s elections and to advance Cambodia’s democracy development:

• Implementation of key results of the February 2002 commune council elections is long past due. The Ministry of Interior has yet to issue instructions for elected commune councils to select new village chiefs and to assume their full responsibilities under the Commune Administration Law. Most of the village chiefs were appointed by CPP, and many have served since 1979. Failure to implement key results of the commune council elections may have contributed to voter cynicism about the 2003 parliamentary elections. The next government should give highest priority to issuing such instructions.
• The opportunity to introduce direct elections to the Senate will arise next year. Direct elections will be essential if the Senate is to become a representative institution and an effective balance to the National Assembly.
• To start with, genuinely broad media access should become a permanent feature of Cambodia’s political environment. Rather than revert to the severe restrictions on media access that were in place before the campaign, there is now the opportunity to expand media access in the post-election period and beyond. With sufficient political will, state media can easily continue to provide opposition parties with significant coverage on broadcast news. The Ministry of Information also can expand media access by providing radio and television licenses to opposition political parties, to non-governmental organizations such as the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, and to any other entity without regard to political affiliation.
• Restrictions on political activity should be lifted permanently. Although most partisan political activity takes place during the election campaign, the law contains no prohibitions on political party outreach to voters or dissemination of messages outside of the campaign period. Nevertheless, political party activity is discouraged outside of the campaign period and is often hindered by local officials in the belief that political debate may lead to violence. To overcome this belief, political parties and local officials will need to encourage political activity throughout the years between elections, so that political debate will become routine and political leaders will be able to discuss their differences without resorting to violence.
• Electoral bodies should be reformed in such a way that their independence is not open to question. Election procedures for registration, balloting and counting should be simplified and the changes should be made known to the public. More specific recommendations will be included in IRI’s final report.

IRI will continue to observe the election process, including the formation of a new government. IRI will issue a full report on the July 2003 National Assembly elections in September. The full report will be available on our website at iri.www.org and will contain more detailed recommendations to strengthen the election process for future elections in Cambodia.

From July 23 to 28, IRI delegates observed the elections in the following provinces: Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Speu, Kampong Thom, Kampot, Kandal, Kratie, Oddar Meanchey, Phnom Penh, Prey Veng, Pursat, Siem Reap, Svay Rieng, Takeo.

IRI has observed more than 100 elections worldwide and has conducted observation missions to Cambodia’s 1993, 1998, and 2002 elections.

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