The year of election
By CARE
People gathering to listen to Angela Merkel during the election campaign in Bonn (photo: Channy Chheng)Half an hour had been gone, and the sound of people murmuring to each other vanished. A voice bursts out loudly, announcing the arrival of the German chancellor. I was standing among the crowds. I used see her face on TV screen and read her speech in the papers, Angela Merkel, now I could see her up, close and personal. I was a bit unluckily, standing meters from the entrance to the stage. So I had to stand on my toes and slightly bent up and down in order to see while she was coming onstage and shaking hands in the crowd.
Different views on the same thing
I told a friend of mine that I wanted to shake hands with the chancellor, and I was serious about this. She just burst out laughing and said, ‘‘why?” I knowingly shrugged my shoulders responding to her laugh. But I actually felt lucky enough, staying in Germany for only two brief months, to see the chancellor: Not only Germany’s first female chancellor but also the first woman to lead a major European country. I did not understand any word she was speaking to hundreds of people in the audience. But I felt really involved when the audience cheered and clapped. I questioned myself whether she was talking badly about her political rivals as Cambodian political candidates always do during the election campaign.
Out of the corner of my eyes, meters away from the stage, I saw a handful of people wearing the same coloured T-shirts and holding banners written in German that I was not able to read. They constantly shouted out in a disturbing way against the chancellor’s speech and so I realized that they came from a different party. I have never seen this situation existing in my country since the election campaigns are different. In Cambodia, the audiences normally are asked to join the campaign in exchanging of favour – a T-shirt and cap, snack and money about 10,000 riels (nearly € 2) – each given by the party.
The election campaign in Cambodia
The fourth general election of Cambodia took place in 2008. And the Cambodia People’s Party (CPP), the ruling party, has underlined its dominance in a landslide victory election winning 90 out of 123 parliamentary seats. I still remember the situation during the election campaign- it usually starts one month ahead of the election day. The noises from megaphones echoing the persuasive words from the politicians are always heard. Everywhere, I got stuck on my way to university because of the traffic jam caused by harsh marches of the party’s campaign. There were hundreds of motors and trucks decorated with banners that had slogans written on them, topped up with national and party’s flags and overloaded with supporters who roamed up and down the city’s roads. Those people dressed in T-shirts and caps adorned with the party logos, stood up in the trucks signalling to the people on the road and singing along the party slogan.
A Car Parade by Funcinpec party during the election campaign in Phnom Penh city 2008 (photo: Keo Kunila)Favouring and frightening the voters
I believe this does not exist in Germany, but in Cambodia, the eve of the election day is prohibited for election campaigns. But there are some politicians and their henchmen snatching this time to walk around from door to door giving out gifts: sarongs (a loose skirt consisting of brightly coloured fabric wrapped around the body), kramas (long checked scarf wore around the neck), T-shirts, seasoning or money to the voters. They also speak out open threats, gaining votes through fear and favour equally. Giving out gifts gradually became a tradition that every political party always uses as a tool during the election campaign. The party dare to spend thousands of dollars on gifts. The worst of this practice is related to religion: In order to tie up the voters, the party’s activist, sometimes, force its members to take an oath. Since 95 percent of Cambodians are Buddhists, they value these oaths greatly.
Reducing poverty, decreasing the price of gasoline and goods, creating more jobs are always promised by politicians during their campaigns. I am wondering what actions can be taken to address these issues. So far there are still many problems left unsolved, a contrary to what the politicians have said earlier. Do the German politicians keep their promises? If they don’t , what will happen?
