Saturday, 10 May 2008

Politicians Jumping Ahead of Campaign: Expert

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
09 May 2008

Khmer audio aired May 08 (5.68KB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired May 08 (5.68KB) - Listen (MP3)

Though the law calls for campaigning only in the month leading into Election Day, parties have already started, a democracy observer said Thursday.

“We see the ruling party campaigning and broadcasting on TV and radio, and the opposition visits directly to help people solve problems like land conflicts and so on,” said Ly Sothearayuth, a senior program officers at the National Democratic Institute, on “Hello VOA.”

With less than three months to go for the election, many voters say they are concerned with media bias. Observers say most of the media is skewed to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, and voters say they aren’t hearing enough about other parties.

Parties can buy airtime, Ly Sothearayuth said, but it’s expensive.

“The ruling party has a lot of resources, and they buy all the airtime,” he said. “Also, another question is that it depends on the station manager, whether

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