Increasing the number of seats in the National Assembly would improve the representation of the Cambodian people in matters of national decision

Election Watchdog Discusses Parliamentary Expansion on 'Hello VOA'
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
28/05/2007

Koul Panha, executive director of the election watchdog Comfrel, told
"Hello VOA" Monday that increasing the number of seats in the National
Assembly could have improved the representation of the Cambodian
people.

With 123 parliamentarians in the National Assembly, each one
represents 100,000 people, compared to a one-to-40,000 ratio when the
government began, Koul Panha said.

More seats would fall in line with the law and lower the ratio, he
said, discounting the opinion that the addition of seven more
parliamentarians would add a strain to the national budget.

Several callers suggested parliamentarians don't do enough to help
their constituents, especially where land-grabs by the wealthy are
concerned.

The National Assembly was more active now than it has been in the
past, Koul Panha said, but it needed to do more.

The National Assembly is an important part of a system of checks and
balances that prevents the executive branch of the government from
doing whatever it wants, he said.

One caller said, given the state of the National Assembly, adding more
seats would be useless.

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