Members
of Cambodia’s non-ruling parties on Tuesday demanded that at least some
members be allowed onto the National Election Committee, which they
accused of ruling-party bias ahead of local elections next year.

Hopefuls for council seats in
1,633 communes nationwide will vie for votes in an election environment
that independent monitors say favors the ruling Cambodian People’s
Party.

As it does in national politics, the CPP has dominates the commune councils, holding nearly 8,000 of 11,500 seats.

Ho Vann, a lawmaker for the main
opposition Sam Rainsy Party, was among those who met with NEC officials
Tuesday. He said there are no opposition representatives on the
National Election Committee, which is charged with ensuring fair
elections and investigating complaints of unfair practices. This creates
a “danger” for those parties, he said.

Opposition candidates to the
provincial and national election committees saw their applications
rejected by the national committee, he said, on the grounds they were
not qualified.

However, he said that if each
committee had a representative of each party, “our election would have
“independence, transparency, effectiveness, confidence and
acceptability.”

Pen Sangha, a representative of
the royalist Norodom Ranariddh Party, said non-ruling parties were
excluded from the committee unfairly.

However, NEC Secretary-General
Tep Nitha said the law does not require representation of parties within
the committee and that the committee has violated no procedural
guidelines.

Still, having parties
represented in local, provincial and national committees would help the
parties accept the election results, said Hang Puthea, executive
director for the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair
Elections.