CAMBODIA 27 July 2008 Poverty-stricken Asian country holds parliamentary election. Big Oil a player?

Cambodia holds elections for its 123-seat National Assembly in its bicameral parliament, with Hun Sen seeking a second 5-year term as prime minister and his ruling Cambodian People's Party likely to maintain its domination. An emerging issue, nationality, could eliminate two Hun Sen rivals from the premiership. He stated in Nov 2007 that prime ministerial candidates should hold Khmer nationality only. The recent oil find off Cambodia's coast could mute the international outcry if the results are tainted, with some countries unwilling to risk alienating the regime.

Sam Rainsy, leader of Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy party, which lost to the CPP in 2003, and Prince Norodom both hold French and Cambodian nationalities and would be barred from competing for the premiership if Hun Sen opinion prevails.

The CPP has governed the kingdom in a coalition with the royalist United National Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC) for over a decade. FUNCINPEC has appointed Princess Norodom Arunrasmy as its candidate for prime minister.

Other parties include the Prince Norodom Ranariddh party (NRP), the Human Right Party, and the Sangkum Jatiniyum Front.

Intimidation and deadly violence during the campaigns and questionable results marked the two previous elections, in 1998 and 2003. An idependent election monitor is calling for the National Election Committee (NEC) to take early measures in order to ensure a clean election in July.

The NEC should look at irregularities, complaints, threats, intimidation and campaign material collection, said Puthea Hang, executive director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections (NICFEC), in a Voice of America article in February. His organication plans to push for a regulation within the NEC that nullifies results where election procedures are ignored. These include threats, polling stations not opened on schedule and instances where ballot boxes are found unlocked.

United States oil giant Chevron recently struck "significant" oil and gas deposits 100 miles off shore. Firms from China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Kuwait, Australia, and France are seeking permits to explore and develop Cambodia's energy riches. Beijing has recently provided Cambodia with hundreds of millions of dollars of aid. Washington does not want to be left out, and it is looking to improve diplomatic relations with Cambodia.

The emergence of the communist armed group, the Khmer Rouge, created a bloodbath in Cambodia, a French protectorate until it became independent in 1954. An estimated 1.7 million people died after the group, under Pol Pot, took control in 1975. The regime left Cambodia as one of the poorest countries in the world.

Hun Sen has been accused repeatedly of being a top officer with the Khmer Rouge, but he claims he was only a soldier. He has held power since 1985 through a series of coalitions between his CPP and other political groups.

RELATED READING:

No term limit for prime minister, Hun Sen says (VOA 27 Nov 2008)
http://www.voanews.com/Khmer/archive/2007-11/2007-11-27-voa3.cfm

Next stop for Big Oil, Cambodia (Business Week 14 Feb 2008)
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2008/gb20080214_769638.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_global+business

Cambodia welcomes its oil wealth, but will it do more harm than good. (Guardian 7 Mar 2007)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/05/oil.cambodia

Cambodia: Claims union leaders' killers were "innocent scapegoats" (ABC Radio Australia 23 Jan 2008)
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/s2144545.htm

Campaigning in Cambodia's local elections (AP/IHT 16 Mar 2007)
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/16/asia/AS-GEN-Cambodia-Election.php

Election monitor recomments NEC focus (VOA 13 Feb 2008)
http://www.voanews.com/khmer/2008-02-13-voa1.cfm