Cambodia’s parliament Thursday appointed a new election committee in a bid to clean-up polls routinely tainted by allegations of fraud and as part of an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen signs his attendance for the National Assembly meeting in Phnom Penh on April 9, 2015. A year-long political stalemate followed polls in 2013 after the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party refused to join parliament alleging they had been cheated out of winning.
The party accused the then National Election Committee (NEC) of political bias for endorsing results that they claimed were rigged and which returned strongman premier Hun Sen to power.
The CNRP only agreed to end the boycott last July in return for guarantees of electoral reform including independence of the NEC.
On Thursday, 113 of 117 lawmakers voted in favour of the new nine-member body — four each appointed by the two main parties and one independent figure from an electoral watchdog agreed on by both sides.
Full Article: Cambodian MPs charge election commission fraud | Bangkok Post: news.
