Campaign spending in NGOs’ sight
A consortium of election NGOs had banded together in a bid to push through a Campaign Finance Law that would put a ceiling on political party campaign spending ahead of next year’s national elections, representatives said yesterday. The NGO Working Group on Political Finance has embarked on a campaign trail of its own, launching a Facebook group and a public forum program to try to raise awareness and demand for campaign finance governance. … The working group wanted to educate Cambodians on the issue so that a call for the law came from the people it will protect, Comfrel executive director Koul Panha said. … “Civil society and political parties, except the [ruling Cambodian People’s Party] agree that we should work on the law,” Panha said. “Even if we had a draft that went through the National Assembly, it maybe will not be easy, because the government and the CPP are not separate. Even though the National Assembly is the most powerful government institution, the CPP controls it.” …
