| A month and a half before the kick-off of the election campaign for new councils in the capital, provinces, municipalities and districts of Cambodia, set to take place from May 1st to 15th 2009, the Cambodian National Election Committee (NEC) mentioned on the occasion of a press conference held on Friday March 13th a brand new rule which forbids foreigners to attend election campaigns in favour of political parties.
NEC secretary-general Tep Nitha explained that with the measure, the authorities intended to learn a lesson from the campaign of July 2008 legislative elections, when a “foreigner” took the floor at an election forum organized by the main opposition formation, the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), in the province of Kampong Cham. The “foreigner”, according to the secretary-general, had entered Cambodia as an election observer.
"The Cambodian People’s Party [CPP, the ruling party] protested against the participation [of that foreigner]. Normally, foreigners are not authorized to take part in the parties’ election campaigns. If they work for a non-governmental organization, they commit to remain neutral”, Tep Nitha argued.
The Cambodian high-ranking representative reported that should there be any stubbornness, the concerned individuals and political parties would receive a warning before being fined.
In reaction to the new NEC rule, spokesperson for the SRP Yim Sovann retorted that during every election, his political formation received observers, foreign deputies or members of foreign political parties, who simply came to Cambodia to share their own election experiences with the main opposition party in the Kingdom. Nothing else. |
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