Cambodia’s election reform chief appeals to U.S. to tie aid to reforms

The director of Cambodia’s election reform movement asked the U.S. government on Wednesday to make any financial aid to the country conditional on the implementation of planned electoral reforms. The request by Koul Panha, director of the Committee on Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) came after a meeting with officials of the U.S. State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, where he observed the American midterm elections this week. … Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) are overhauling the National Election Committee (NEC), which oversees the country’s elections, as part of an agreement reached in July to end a political standoff. The government-appointed NEC had declared the CPP the victor in disputed elections a year earlier, despite widespread allegations of fraud, prompting the CNRP to boycott the National Assembly, or parliament. …

 Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/koul-panha-visit-11062014182102.html