A/HRC/7/42 page 21 V. ELECTION LAWS AND PRACTICE 90. Cambodia has a record of regular National Assembly and commune elections. Most observers reported positively on the 2007 commune elections and noted a decline in violence. There is a good legislative framework for elections and considerable development of other legal and administrative institutions. 91. Serious obstacles remain to achieving the constitutional goal of political pluralism through elections. Some of these are general - deficiencies in democratic governance, human rights, media access and fairness, and in the role of civil society. Opposition political parties have complained of irregularities in the administration of the elections that favoured the ruling party. 92. The National Election Commission (NEC) is generally well thought of. It is relatively transparent and holds consultations with political parties and civil society. Two major constraints seem to affect its ability to ensure free and fair elections. First, it is not in reality fully independent and does not enjoy a constitutional status. Its members are appointed by the National Assembly on the nomination of the Ministry of Interior which is not obliged to consult political parties (it did do so in recent nominations). Nor is the Ministry of the Interior required to produce more nominations than vacancies, to give the National Assembly a real choice. Members have no fixed term of office and there are no safeguards against their arbitrary removal. 93. The second constraint is that many administrative functions essential for free and fair elections are not performed by NEC. Issuing of identity cards (crucial for registration as a voter) and preparation of the voter registry are done by State officials, mostly connected to the ruling party. In 2007 even the registration of candidates was not done by NEC. Due to the scale of these operations and the different levels at which they are carried out, NEC cannot ensure that they are properly, fairly and effectively carried out (especially as these other bodies are under considerable political pressure). The Special Representative heard several complaints that these functions were performed to favour the ruling party. 94. An adviser has identified various other problems: complainants being coerced into signing reconciliation agreements; complex regulations that are arbitrarily applied; insistence of electoral authorities on formal complaints; involvement by village chiefs; failure to sanction those who commit electoral violations, particularly “vote buying”; and lack of impartiality and professionalism in decision-making on complaints and appeals, particularly at the sub-NEC levels. He advises the creation of a separate body to assume the NEC function of considering appeals from lower levels, and phasing out the role of village chiefs. 95. NEC is required to ensure that all political parties have equal access to the media. International and other election observers have stated that the media, State-owned and most of the private, are “overwhelmingly favourable to the main governing party”. 96. The period for election campaign for the National Assembly is 30 days. Outside this period there can be no campaigning - defined very broadly to exclude legitimate political activity. One observer said that Cambodian authorities “have very limited tolerance for organized political parties or NGOs outside a campaign period”.