Phnom Penh Post
Infrastructure, healthcare and schooling topped the list of needs
rural voters said had been ignored by their elected officials, according
to a watchdog report released yesterday.
Of nearly 6,000 villagers surveyed by the Committee for Free and Fair
Elections in Cambodia, only 2.2 per cent said their priority needs had
been met by commune councils.
“Infrastructure such as roads, bridges, canals, schools... and health
centres are the priority demands for villagers. People in crowded areas
are rich, so they can work with authorities for development, but
villagers are poor and have less influence on politicians because there
are only a small number of villagers,” Comfrel executive director Koul
Panha said.
“Because politicians only focus on dense areas for support, [we hope]
this report will show that politicians should consider the needs of
villagers.”
Romam Thang, Soeung commune chief in Ratanakkiri’s Bakeo district,
said he was well aware his minority Tompoun electorate badly desired new
infrastructure, but said a lack of money made meeting such demands
impossible.
“People need schools, wells, and roads. We could manage to build a
road for them two years ago. For wells, however, I don’t have the money
for it, so we are requesting it. So what we can we will provide them,”
he said.
Regarding land disputes – a perennial problem that has slowly become a
key election issue – few of those interviewed in the report felt they
had been adequately addressed.
Only four per cent said their commune council had solved their land
disputes, while 85 per cent said they felt their elected officials had
done “little or nothing”.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chhay Channyda at
channyda.chhay@phnompenhpost.com
1 comment:
The Khmer people have lost trust to the CPP, but they will vote for them. Because they also don't have much trust to the opposition.
On the paper the opposition dreams a lot of things, but in reality their ways of leadership and leading system lacks of fundamental basics. You must have a lot of experiences, trust and have also infrastructure on this modern world.
The CPP has a lot of working experiences, contrary the opposition only has the theories from the books.
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