Final Assessment and Report On 2007 Commune Council Elections # Oddar Meanchey Preah Vihear Ratanakiri # # Banteay Meanchey # Stung Treng # Siem Reab # Battambang # # Pailin Kampong Thom # Mondolkiri # Kratie # # Pursat # Kampong Chhnang Kampong Cham # Koh Kong Phnom Penh # # # # # Kampong Speu Prey Veng N Kandal Svay Rieng # # W E Takeo # Kampot S Sihanouk Ville # Kep# st April 1 , 2007 Final Assessment and Report on 2007 Commune Council Elections Table of Contents Acronyms 3 Foreword 4 1. Overall Assessment 5 1.1 Summary of principal findings 5 1.2 Introduction 10 1.3 Background and context 10 1.4 Executive summary 11 1.5 The gender and youth perspectives 15 1.6 What others say 15 1.7 Overall conclusion: Cambodia’s “Winner Takes All” Democracy? 17 2. Legal Framework 18 3. Elections and the Related Political Environment 26 3.1 Pre-election campaign environment 26 3.2 Election campaign environment 28 3.3 Cooling-off period, polling/counting day 30 4. NEC Restructuring, Recruitment of Electoral Commissions and Performance 32 4.1 Responsibilities of the NEC 32 4.2 Recruitment of election officials 34 4.3 Restructuring the NEC 34 5. Election Process 36 5.1 Voter registration 36 5.2 Registration of political party candidates 41 5.3 VIN Phase II and NEC bureaucratic problems 45 5.4 Campaigning 45 5.5 Cooling off and polling day 48 5.6 Vote counting and results 50 5.7 Recommendations 51 6. Media Monitoring 52 6.1 Electronic media 52 6.2 Print media 55 6.3 Media monitored only for violations 55 7. Complaints and Complaint Solving 56 7.1 Complaint-solving process 56 7.2 Complaints about ballot counting and polling 57 8. Election Results, Verification, Analysis and Comparison 59 8.1 Overview 59 8.2 Results analysis 62 8.3 Analysis of vote in certain communes 62 9. Post-elections and Transfer of Power: Intimidation 64 10. Popular Participation and Loss of Voters’ Rights 65 11. Political Participation 66 12. Civil Society/COMFREL’s Participation and Constraints for Observers 67 COMFREL - NEAK KLOAM MEUL 1 Final Assessment and Report on 2007 Commune Council Elections 12.1 Overview of COMFREL’s election observation 67 12.2 COMFREL observation activities 67 12.3 Voter and candidate education activities 68 12.4 Media activities and outcome (October 2006 to April 2007) 69 12.5 Obstruction of election observers 70 13. Conclusions and Overall Recommendations 71 Annex 1: Condition/Criteria for Rejecting Election Results in Constituencies 72 Annex 2: Number of Communes, Polling Stations, Commune Council Members, Eligible Voters, Registered Voters and Voter Turnout 74 Annex 3: Registered Political Party Candidates by Province and Party (Source: NEC) 75 Annex 4: Elections Results by Province and Party with Seat Allocation (Source: NEC) 76 Annex 5: Elected Commune Councils’ Members by Gender (Source: NEC) 77 Annex 6: Number of Elected Female Commune Council Members 78 Annex 7: Seat Allocation (Source: NEC) 79 Annex 8: Summary of Information by Province/Town 80 Annex 9: Cases of Killing 86 Annex 10: The Voter Information Notice: Helping Voters of Cambodia 88 Annex 11: 2007 Elections Calendar 89 Tables and Figures Table 1: Pattern of Voting Between Parties 60 Table 2: Popular Participation from 1993 to 2007 65 Table 3: Number of Political Parties 66 Table 4: Number of Accredited Political Party Agents Deployed 66 Chart 1: Comparison of Election Results in 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2007 (party by party) 60 Chart 2: Comparison of Election Results in 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2007 (year by year) 61 Note: - 1993, 1998, 2003 : National Assembly Elections - 2002 and 2007 : Commune Council Elections COMFREL’s mission is to help to create an informed and favorable democratic climate (1) for free and fair elections through lobbying and advocacy to establish a permanent and suitable legal framework; education to inform citizens of their rights; and monitoring activities that both discourage irregularities and provide comprehensive data to enable an objective, non-partisan assessment to be made of the election process, and (2) for the general public to fully understand democratic processes not just before elections but after and between them. It arranges, towards this end, educational sessions and public forums to encourage citizens to participate in politics and decision making. It encourages constructive advocacy and lobbying for electoral reforms that increase the accountability of elected officials. Finally, by providing comprehensive observation and monitoring it enables objective, non-partisan assessments to be made on the progress of commitment made in political platforms and on the performance of elected officials. COMFREL - NEAK KLOAM MEUL 2 Final Assessment and Report on 2007 Commune Council Elections Acronyms ADHOC Cambodian Human Rights & Development Association ANFREL Asian Network for Free Elections CEC Commune Election Commission CCPCR Cambodian Centre for the Protection of Children’s Rights CDP Cambodian Defenders Project CHRAC Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee COMFREL Committee on Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia COPCEL Conflict Prevention in Cambodian Elections CPP Cambodian People’s Party CSD Center for Social Development CTN Cambodian Television Network CWCC Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre DFID UK Department for International Development EC European Commission EMO Election Monitoring Organization FUNCINPEC or FCP Front Uni National pour un Cambodge Indépendant, Neutre, Pacifique et Coopératif or National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia HROTP Human Rights Organization for Transparency and Peace IRI International Republican Institute JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency KKKHRA Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Association KYA Khmer Youth Association LAC Legal Aid of Cambodia LEMNA Law on the Election of the Members of the National Assembly LICADHO Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights MoI Ministry of Interior MoInfo Ministry of Information NA National Assembly NDI National Democratic Institute NEC National Election Committee NGO Non-Governmental Organization NICFEC Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia NRP Norodom Ranariddh Party NPA Norwegian People’s Aid PDP People Development and Peace Center PEC Provincial Election Commission PEFOC, J People’s Forum on Cambodia-Japan PM Prime Minister RFA Radio Free Asia RFI Radio France International RGC Royal Government of Cambodia SEDOC Socio-Economic Development Organization of Cambodia SRP Sam Rainsy Party TAF The Asia Foundation TVK Cambodian National Television UK United Kingdom UNCOHCHR United Nations Cambodia Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights UNDP United Nations Development Program UNTAC United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia US United States USAID United States Agency for International Development WMC Women’s Media Centre of Cambodia VIN Voter Information Notice VOA Voice of America VoC Voice of Civil Society YCC Youth Council of Cambodia COMFREL - NEAK KLOAM MEUL 3 Final Assessment and Report on 2007 Commune Council Elections Foreword The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL) is pleased to present the Final Assessment and Report on 2007 Commune Council Elections. This report is a compilation of the overall assessment, summary of findings, press statements, and reports published prior to, immediately following and within weeks of the polls as well as an analysis of the election results. The report is based on observations of the conditions that prevailed during the pre-election period starting from voter registration and voter lists revision in October 2006 until the post election period of the transition of power from the 1st to 2nd mandate commune councils in May 2007. We wishes to extend our thanks for the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the National Election Committee and Election Authorities at all levels. COMFREL wishes to thank and to pay tribute to its domestic and international observer colleagues, especially donors such as OXFAM NOVIB, USAID (US Agency for International Development) through NDI (National Democratic Institute), Forum Syd, Oxfam HK, Trocaire, Japanese Embassy, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the European Commission (EC), NPA (Norwegian People’s Aid), and One World Action, for support and participation in the shared task of working towards democracy in Cambodia. We take this opportunity to thank foreign observers who joined us in this meaningful election observation mission. We thank them for generously giving their time and energy to assist in our monitoring exercise. Our warm thanks to all the local partner organizations, NICFEC, YCC who join cooperation and mutual assistance. COMFREL is deeply grateful to our board member organizations and the local partner organizations who made the observation exercise possible and voluntary participated in election activities. A substantial part of the support and participation of our provincial/municipal, district/khan, commune/sangkat, village activists was on a purely voluntarily basis. If not for the deep commitment of these outstanding organizations and individuals our monitoring task would not have proved to have been so successful. Finally, we wish to thanks the media organizations, political parties and groups as well as others who recognized and supported the efforts of COMFREL to contribute towards a free and fair election. Special thanks to the core team on this report made up of the following members: Mr. MAR Sophal,