Cambodian parties pick rights activist as key NEC member

28 July 2014
Radio Free Asia
Elections / Government
Elections

Member of a national election body in a significant move following an agreement on electoral reforms that broke a one-year political deadlock, officials said. Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed to a proposal by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) that prominent rights group Licadho chief Pung Chhiv Kek be the ninth member of the new National Election Committee (NEC). Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the CNRP also agreed to a set of conditions that she had laid out in a bid to ensure that the election panel operates independently from the government. Pung Chhiv Kek told RFA’s Khmer Service that the CPP late Monday informed her that it would agree to all her conditions for accepting the post, saying she wanted to perform her duties in a “neutral” and “independent” manner.

 Parameswaran Ponnudurai
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/activist-07282014195111.html