NEC urges legal action
Election body asks Interior to pursue Rainsy, CNRP for boycott calls
SPEAKING during a meeting with stakeholders, officials from the National Election Committee (NEC) said it had requested the Ministry of Interior to take legal action against the dissolved Cambodian National Rescue Party and its former leader, Sam Rainsy, for calling on people to forgo voting in the July 29 national elections, labelling such calls a violation of the Constitution and the Election Law.
The meeting on Thursday, which was joined by the Constitutional Council, political parties, civil society organisations and representatives from the Japanese Embassy, included an announcement that Heang Kimseoun, deputy director of the Beehive Social Democratic Party, had asked the NEC to take action against the dissolved CNRP, whose former members have been calling for a boycott of the polls.
Kimseoun said he saw the CNRP’s message as propaganda aimed to “break the nation apart”.
A representative of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party who declined to give his name added that although small po- litical parties were subjected to insults by Rainsy, who referred to them as “firefly parties” or “puppet parties”, there had been a huge increase in the number of them registering with the NEC.
Meanwhile, Mean Sati, an
obstacle to fish movement which will ultimately lead to the loss or decrease of some types of fish,” the report said. “Forest animals that depend on the status of flowing water for ecological needs will generally decrease in numbers due to hindrances to their life cycle”.
The Guardian quoted Marc Goichot as saying that water resource experts of the WWF claim “the construction of this dam will seriously affect the efforts of dolphin conservation, fish resources, living condition and nutrition of the rural community”.
According to the report, solar energy is the only one option which could replace the construction of this dam and the installation of solar panels on the existing Sesan Krom 2 Dam will help double productivity, generating more than 8,000 megawatts.
Minister of Environment Say Samal referred questions to his spokesperson, Sao Sophea, who declined comment.
Meng Sak Theara, spokesman of the Ministry of Mines and Entergy could not be reached for comment.
If approved, China’s Hydrollacang International Energy is slated to implement the project.
In September, Prime Minister Hun Sen criticised extremist environmental NGOs and unnamed diplomats for trying to prevent the development of dams in the Kingdom, stating that the government wanted citizens in all rural areas to have electricity by 2022.