Cambodian election law to be passed next week

Cambodian election law to be passed next week

PHNOM PENH (Agencies): Cambodia's parliament will pass a key
electoral law early next week in preparation for general
elections scheduled for May, the ministry of information said in
a release yesterday.

"Cambodia's (draft) election law will be submitted to the
National Assembly for debate and approval on Oct. 6," Cambodia's
newly appointed First Prime Minister Ung Huot was quoted as
saying in the release.

The election law would provide a legal framework for the vote
and establish an independent election commission. Cambodia's last
election in 1993 was held under UN rules.

Ung Huot discussed the election with Australian Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer on Tuesday on the sidelines of the
United Nations General Assembly session in New York.

Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, who toppled Prince Norodom
Ranariddh after two days of fighting in Phnom Penh, has insisted
Cambodia will hold a free and fair poll as scheduled in May.

But political analysts in Phnom Penh said preparations for the
election, including the passing of necessary laws, the setting up
of an election commission and the drawing up of voter lists, must
be speeded up for the election to be held on time.

Ranariddh and Hun Sen headed a coalition government set up
after UN-run polls in 1993 but their administration was plagued
by rows over power-sharing and how to handle the splintering
Khmer Rouge guerrilla group.

Hun Sen has said Ranariddh, who was out of the country at the
time of his ouster, is free to return to Cambodia -- but that he
must face weapons smuggling and other charges filed against him
after he was disposed.

Ranariddh, who denies any wrongdoing, said in New York on
Tuesday the 1998 elections would not be credible unless he was
allowed to take part.

The two rivals had separate meetings with UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan in New York on Tuesday but diplomats in Phnom Penh
said yesterday it appeared the talks had not led to any
breakthroughs on Ranariddh's future role in politics.

Downer said Australia would soon send a team to Cambodia to
explore ways to offer technical help for the Cambodian election,
the information ministry release said.

Meanwhile, King Norodom Sihanouk warned Cambodia's leaders
that famine and a growing gap between rich and poor will spark a
peasant revolt unless steps are taken to alleviate poverty.

"Our country, without our politicians knowing it, is moving
toward a peasant revolution (as soon as) proletarian
revolutionary leaders show themselves," the king said in an
interview in the monthly royal bulletin, seen yesterday.

Cambodia, already one of the world's poorest countries because
of 25 years of civil war, is suffering even more severe economic
hardship as a result of July's violent coup launched by Second
Prime Minister Hun Sen.