The Dark Magic of the NEC/CPP
Theary C. Seng, 28 July 2013
By
every indication (save those of the ruling Cambodian People's Party),
the democratic opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party won the
parliamentary elections with 123 seats at stake.
Unofficial results of
monitors (of the opposition CNRP and of national/international
observers) streamed in shortly after 3 p.m. when the polling stations
closed across the country with 9.6 million registered voters (but 1-3
million highly contested due to problems with voter registration)
indicating that the CNRP won in all the major towns and cities,
including the capital Phnom Penh.
I have trained political party agents
and monitored the national elections here officially and unofficially.
(I've also been invited as international observers for the Bangladesh
elections.) So, I do know the inner workings of monitoring and its
detailed and serious preparation, with the data to be trusted.
The democracy CNRP president Sam Rainsy at around 8 p.m.
even came out with an official statement in Khmer claiming election
victory and requesting all the voters to stay calm and peaceful.
Hearing the official statement by Sam Rainsy, a friend, stunned me and
everyone else who read it, but not surprising as we knew the country
voted CNRP.
But hearing it, after fighting for democracy on the ground since 1995, I was stunned and emotional. Streams of tears flowed.
A
few minutes later, I received unofficial information from the CPP that
at 8:30 p.m., it will broadcast its victory on the national TVK of the
preliminary results of 70-50 (which I posted incorrectly at 70-30 on
Facebook).
And a few minutes later after that, Khieu Kanharith, the
Minister of Information and spokesperson for the ruling CPP posted on
his Facebook a victory for the CPP at 68 seats for the CPP and 55 seats
for the CNRP in the National Assembly.
I
was again stunned AND OUTRAGED. PRIOR to today's voting day, the CPP
has already stolen 25% of the votes via highly problematic voter
registration process and list.
And now, AFTER the voting day, when
every trustworthy indication shown victory for the democracy CNRP, the
CPP has the audacity to claim victory at the incredible margin of 68-55
seats. (Sure, the gains for the opposition democracy forces are also
great, but that's a separate issue.)
I
called this "NEC/CPP dark magic". And here's a real-life illustration
of how it works. In the 2008 national elections, Gen. Nhek Bunchhay ran
as a royalist Funcincpec candidate and lost in the province of Banteay
Meanchey at the first instance of counting with all the monitors there
immediately after voting on election day. But the ruling CPP needed him
to win as he individually and his royalist party Funcinpec -- for their
pliancy -- were needed by the CPP to form a coalition government. So,
the day after voting, the National Election Committee announced that in
fact Nhek Bunchhay won a parliamentary seat after it (NEC) recounted the
votes (on its own in the dark).
Earlier this afternoon, security blockades
cordoned off the Prime Minister's residence in a very, very WIDE
encirclement. And there are reports and images of tanks and military
build-up with great assistance from Vietnam, this ruling CPP's patron
(Hun Sen and his ruling cohorts were propped by Vietnam after it invaded
Cambodia in 1979).
- Theary C. Seng, 10 p.m. 28 July 2013
1 comment:
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