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James P. Rubin, Department Spokesman Excerpt from daily press briefing Washington, DC, July 23, 1998 U.S. Department of State

QUESTION: With regard to the elections coming up in Cambodia this weekend, we've heard conflicting reports about how free and fair those are likely to be. Does the Administration have any particular views on that topic?

MR. RUBIN: Yes. Despite flaws in the election climate, we continue to believe that Cambodia's elections can be held on July 26, and that a delay would not improve the climate. It wouldn't necessarily make it a better election if it was delayed.

The 1993 Cambodian election campaign was beset with violence and intimidation, yet the outcome was certified internationally as free and fair. So it is impossible to predict how this election will be judged. We do believe the election campaign is in full swing with opposition leaders campaigning vigorously. Those opposition leaders no longer are calling for a boycott, and they indicated that they would participate fully in the election.

So there are many parties participating, thousands of Cambodian election observers have pledged not only to stay close to the tallying of votes, but literally to sleep with the ballot boxes overnight during the counting process if that was necessary.

We believe that election observers can play a constructive role, and the US is funding over 200 international observers, as well as over 20,000 Cambodian observers; and we're providing $2.3 million for observation, training of poll workers and other activities. In short, we're not giving the elections a clean bill of health in advance; what we're saying is that we think the climate is about as good as it's likely to be for some time, and that the Cambodian people deserve the opportunity on balance to exercise their ballot rights and their democratic rights.

Link to complete July 23, 1998 daily press briefing.

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