Voters Worry a Promise Is Just a Promise
Many voters worry that by Monday, promises made by parties on the campaign trail will fade away. (22 July 2008)
For nearly a month, potential voters have been listening tothe messages of political parties campaigning for 123 NationalAssembly seats. Their votes will be cast on Sunday, but many voters worry thatby Monday, promises made will fade away. In the course of the campaign, 11 parties madesweeping promises before voters, vowing to fight corruption, eliminateland-grabbing, curb inflation, reform the judiciary and protect thenatural environment. And while many of the countries 8 million voters likelyheard these messages, they might not have been as convinced as parties hoped. "I like all party platforms for the purpose of pushingCambodian society to the rule of law, development and prosperity," HavCheng Sim, a 22-year-old civil engineering student said recently. "But Ihave little belief in those political promises." Political observers say attitudes like these should be areminder to political parties to remember promises they've made on the campaigntrail. "The voter's concern is a very important thing toremind the politicians and candidates, who made promises before the people,that they must respect their promises after winning the election," LySothearayuth, a senior program officer for the National Democratic Institute,said. Long Saroeun, 26, sitting with her infant on her lap outsidea small wooden house in Phnom Penh,said recently she was skeptical of all political parties. "The political promise is just a political trick andstrategy by all parties to lobby voters," she said. "Politiciansalways break their promises, after winning.” Views in the city and the countryside were similar amongsome voters. "My family makes a very poor living, but no politicianor party has come to help get my family and me out of poverty, so I do not believein the promises by politicians or parties," Meach Phalla, a 45-year-old womanliving in Kmapong Cham town, said. "But I believe in myself to make asmall business for supporting my family."