Rainsy Slams CPPRainsy Slams CPP

Rainsy Slams CPP

Khmer Times | 26 May 2016

Sam Rainsy, the president of the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), yesterday accused the ruling party of using tricks to win the upcoming elections through repression of the National Election Committee (NEC) and by using its influence on the judiciary to persecute political opponents.
 

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the date of the upcoming 2017 commune council elections, several months earlier than is legally required in order to help stakeholders, including the NEC, political parties and voters prepare. He said he hoped political opponents would not misinterpret the early announcement as the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) acting in its own self-interest.
 

However, in a post on Facebook yesterday, Mr. Rainsy said announcing the date for the elections early was not enough to convince the public that the elections would be credible and acceptable to the Cambodian people and the international community.
 

He said in light of the current political climate of repression by the CPP, the announcement was nothing more than an attempt to divert attention from the government’s persecution of political opponents and human rights critics. He argued that the CPP has been using its judicial clout to manipulate the upcoming elections to ensure its victory despite its declining popularity among the people.
 

“Taking full advantage of its control over the judiciary, which it blatantly uses as a tool for political repression, the government gets an increasing number of its opponents and critics – including leaders and members of the civil society – arrested and jailed on fallacious charges,” he said.
 

He blasted Mr. Hun Sen’s ruling party as not only restricting freedom of expression in an unacceptable manner, but also disrupting the political balance in the composition of the National Election Committee by imprisoning one of its top officials representing civil society and preparing to prosecute a key opposition-appointed NEC member.
 

“By doing so the government is actually destroying the credibility of the newly formed NEC, thus jeopardizing the whole election process,” he said.
 

“Finally, the government and the ruling party must be reminded that, in any parliamentary democracy, any election would be meaningless without the participation of the leader of the opposition,” referring to his own self-imposed exile after years-old defamation charges were reissued against him in October last year.
 

His comments came only one day before police attempted to arrest acting CNRP president Kem Sokha.
 

CPP spokesman Sok Ey San said the date of the election was announced early due to demands from political parties, NGOs and the NEC in the hope it will help them in their work.
 

“Rainsy is always like this. He asked to set the date for election. Now that we did it, he criticized and attacked our party. This became his habit now that we did not care,” he said.
 

Earlier this month, 55 members of the CNRP, on behalf of 45 percent of the voters, jointly signed a letter that was sent to United Nations’ Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, describing the deteriorating political stability in recent months as a symptom of the CPP’s wider influence on the judiciary to influence the outcome of elections.
 

According to Prime Minister Hun Sen, commune council elections are set for June 4, 2017, while the national elections are to take place on July 22, 2018.