The Cambodia Daily
Apsara Authority starts razing illegal Angkor park homes
The government body charged with managing the Angkor Archaeological Park on Monday started tearing down the first of more than 500 homes and shophouses illegally built within the park in the weeks before the June 4 commune elections. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/apsara-authority-starts-razing-illegal-angkor-park-homes-131533/
NEC rejects election complaints for being filed past deadline
The country’s national election body says it has rejected more than half of the 61 complaints it received about the June 4 commune elections, most of them requests by the opposition CNRP for recounts in races it narrowly lost, claiming the complainants missed the deadline. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nec-rejects-election-complaints-filed-past-deadline-131488/
US brands object to draft wage, dispute settlement laws
A group representing some of the largest apparel brands in the U.S., including Gap and Levi Strauss, are urging Prime Minister Hun Sen to reconsider controversial provisions in a pair of draft laws on wages and labor disputes. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-brands-object-draft-wage-dispute-settlement-laws-131484/
Election body urges legal action against its social media critics
The National Election Committee (NEC) has asked the government to take legal action against two social media users for posting “inciting news” about the June 4 commune elections it claims dishonored the body.According to the statement dated Tuesday, the NEC called on “relevant institutions” to ...
Ben Sokhean And Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/election-body-urges-legal-action-against-its-social-media-critics-131408/
Under pressure, NGO coalition seeks closer ties with government
An NGO coalition launched a program to collaborate more closely with the government on Wednesday, a week after an Interior Ministry spokesman admitted to threatening several organizations in order to “scare” them ahead of commune elections. CCC executive director Soeung Saran said the problems between ...
Brendan O’byrne
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/under-pressure-ngo-coalition-seeks-closer-ties-with-government-131362/
Ballot recounts narrowly swing two communes to CNRP
Ballot recounts on Wednesday secured the opposition CNRP two more commune wins—one each in Battambang and Kompong Thom provinces—a day after the first of 40 contested communes in the June 4 local elections swung to the CPP. Nguon Kolboth, a CPP representative who was at ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ballot-recounts-narrowly-swing-two-communes-to-cnrp-131359/
Alleged poachers charged with killing endangered monkeys
Two farmers caught with dead monkeys in Mondolkiri province’s Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary have been charged with poaching endangered wildlife. ...
Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/alleged-poachers-charged-with-killing-endangered-monkeys-131318/
Human rights watch slams ‘neither free nor fair’ elections
Human Rights Watch (HRW), long one of the government’s harshest critics, on Tuesday condemned the June 4 commune elections as “neither free nor fair” and called for urgent reforms to safeguard next year’s national election. ...
Chhorn Phearun
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/human-rights-watch-slams-neither-free-nor-fair-elections-131317/
Economists assail opposition proposal to ditch US dollars
Economists on Tuesday lambasted the CNRP’s proposal to eliminate the use of U.S. dollars for transactions in the country within one year of a victory in next year’s national elections, saying the policy would be “a disaster” and “impossible.” ...
Brendan O’byrne
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/economists-assail-opposition-proposal-to-ditch-us-dollars-131307/
NEC’s first election recount turns rowdy
After nine hours of counting and heated arguments between CPP and CNRP representatives, the national election body had yet to declare the winner of a Svay Rieng province commune where the opposition CNRP is contesting the results of the June 4 local elections, though the ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/necs-first-election-recount-turns-rowdy-131272/
‘Anarchist’ activist flees village for UN, alleging harassment
An environmental activist branded an “anarchist” by a government spokesman said he fled to the U.N. human rights office in Phnom Penh on Monday after police harassed him for becoming involved in a dispute between sand dredgers and villagers in Kandal province. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anarchist-activist-flees-village-un-alleging-harassment-131288/
Don’t ‘waste’ votes on small parties: Sokha
CNRP President Kem Sokha on Monday urged supporters of minority political parties not to “waste” votes and instead to join his party as the only credible challenger to the CPP, words dismissed as a false choice by one minor party leader. ...
Van Roeun
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/dont-waste-votes-small-parties-sokha-131294/
Police nab two posing as NGO official, reporter
Police in Kompong Thom province have arrested two men respectively claiming to be an environmental NGO official and a reporter who allegedly extorted locals by threatening to tell authorities they were farming illegally on state land. ...
Chhorn Phearun
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-nab-two-posing-ngo-official-reporter-131295/
National election body to start vote recount today
The national election body will today start recounting votes for communes across the country where the winners in June 4’s commune elections were decided by the narrowest of margins. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/national-election-body-to-start-vote-recount-today-131232/
CNRP to push $500k per commune plan in national assembly
In what one observer said was simply an act of politicking, the opposition CNRP on Thursday said it would push its campaign pledge of giving $500,000 to every commune in the National Assembly. ...
Ben Sokhean and Janelle Retka
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/131182-131182/
Election body releases complete preliminary election results
The National Election Committee (NEC) posted complete preliminary results online on Wednesday evening after receiving missing forms from 344 communes, an official said, with the final tallies from Sunday’s commune elections expected before June 25. ...
2011 ban on maids working in Malaysia lifted months ago
The government lifted a 2011 ban on sending Cambodian maids to Malaysia in January, according to a directive Prime Minister Hun Sen signed late last year, contradicting months of government denials. ...
Zsombor Peter and Phan Soumy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/2011-ban-maids-working-malaysia-lifted-months-ago-131127/
Government spokesman admits to NGO scare
Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak’s pre-election warning that some NGOs and their leaders were being watched for illegally aiding the opposition was a threat designed to frighten them, General Sopheak said on Wednesday, as civil society groups warily condemned the statements. ...
Aun Pheap and Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-spokesman-admits-to-ngo-scare-131115/
Trash piles will get picked up, eventually
Phnom Penh’s sole garbage hauler says it will need another week to collect thousands of tons of fetid garbage that piled up over the weekend when workers left the capital to vote in Sunday’s commune elections. ...
Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/trash-piles-will-get-picked-up-eventually-131068/
Move-out begins at White Building; no official deadline set
As residents began to move out of Phnom Penh’s iconic White Building on Tuesday, government officials were also present, handing out documentation to those leaving while microfinance staff offered their services.While some residents piled their possessions into trucks or blocked narrow hallways with unwanted goods, ...
Brendan O’byrne
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/second2/move-begins-white-building-no-official-deadline-set-131081/
CPP, Opposition lodge Commune Elections day complaints
The ruling CPP and opposition CNRP have filed a combined 39 official complaints over the running of Sunday’s commune elections while independent observers continue to criticize pre-election conditions that they say likely compromised the poll.Hang Puthea, spokesman for the National Election Committee (NEC), said the ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-opposition-lodge-commune-elections-day-complaints-131071/
Slow election count raises eyebrows
The National Election Committee (NEC) continued on Tuesday to say slow internet and blurry photographs were to blame for delays in publishing election results for 344 remaining communes, with its spokesman offering no timeline for when the public could expect complete results. Some parties and ...
Van Roeun and Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/slow-election-count-raises-eyebrows-131066/
As count ticks upward, parties spin competing narratives
With official tallies from Sunday’s commune elections slowed by internet hiccups, both major political parties provided similar results but different stories on Monday on which had won a vote that drew a record 7 million Cambodians to the polls—300,000 more than had been previously reported ...
Ben Paviour and Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-count-ticks-upward-parties-spin-competing-narratives-130998/
Independent observers complain about pre-vote conditions
A day removed from Sunday’s commune elections, independent observers remained mostly positive about polling day but, troubled more by the conditions leading up to the day itself, refrained from declaring the elections free and fair. ...
Ben Sokhean and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/independent-observers-complain-about-pre-vote-conditions-130997/