A/HRC/27/70 organizations dealing with women’s, disability and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and intersex rights. 6. In assessing the progress made by the Government in establishing an independent human rights institution, the Special Rapporteur focused on the independence of those State institutions that are responsible for monitoring human rights and ensuring that remedy is provided where violations are found to have occurred. The Special Rapporteur considers that many of the issues highlighted in his earlier reports and the high level of dissatisfaction revealed at the last parliamentary elections reflect a failure to protect the human rights of a large number of Cambodians who claim to have been disenfranchised and/or displaced or who are economically, politically and otherwise vulnerable. 7. That the outcome of the elections should have come as a surprise to many may be due to the absence of the kind of independent national institutions that should have monitored the pressing human rights and governance issues of the nation, been able to alert decision makers wherever problems are found and exercise the authority necessary to rectify those problems as needed. While social problems, dissatisfaction and complaints will always exist, appropriate independent institutional mechanisms could have addressed them before they became divisive social issues. There is an urgent need to reconsider the official position toward such institutions, which in general has been to establish governmental institutions rather than independent ones, which, with rare exceptions, have failed to prove effective and gain the trust of the public. 8. On the eve of finalization of the present report, the Special Rapporteur learned that the two parties finally reached an agreement to end the longest running political stalemate in decades. The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) will assume its seats in the National Assembly, which can now fulfil its purpose as a national platform for debate and compromise on the national legislative and policymaking agenda. He warmly welcomed that news with a public statement and expressed the hope that it would mark the start of the critical promised reforms. A. Overall situation of human rights 9. Up to the end of 2013, the assessment of the Special Rapporteur of the evolution of the situation of human rights was generally a positive one. During his previous missions and in his earlier reports, the Special Rapporteur had called on the Government to enable the leader of the opposition, Sam Rainsy, to return to the country from exile and to take an active part in the politics of the country. The Special Rapporteur was pleased when Mr. Rainsy was granted a royal pardon in time to lead his party in the elections in July 2013. 10. The Special Rapporteur noted that the elections were conducted in a largely peaceful manner, but were marred by allegations of electoral irregularities. Calling for an independent and credible investigation into those allegations, CNRP refused to take its seats in the National Assembly. The irregularities were reported by several organizations and groups of organizations that monitored the elections. Those groups were largely consistent in their findings despite slight differences.1 1 In November 2013, the Electoral Reform Alliance, comprised of some 20 civil society organizations, set out joint findings in a report on the conduct of the elections. Electoral Reform Alliance, “Joint report on the conduct of the 2013 Cambodian elections”. Available from http://nationalrescueparty.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/FINAL-ERA-REPORT.NDI_.pdf. 5