SRP ends a rather subdued campaign with a large rally in Phnom Penh

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Ky Soklim
Cambodge Soir
January 20-21-22, 2006
Translated from French by KI-Media

The senate election campaign which ends on Friday midnight, will not be very active, most of the political parties had considered the voting rule did not justify such great cost. The seats of the upper chamber which was created in 1999, will be renewed for the first time this Sunday through an indirect vote by 11,382 major voters (constituted of commune councils members and MPs), four of the senators will be named by the King and the National Assembly.

Only the SRP took advantage of the day before the last election campaign day to organize a large popular meeting which gathered several thousands of people in Phnom Penh with Sam Rainsy as guest star in direct phone line from Paris. Meng Rita, the interim Secretary-General of the party, said that this is a way to show that SRP is not weakened by the prolonged absence of its President. Cheered from the beginning to the end of his speech, Sam Rainsy launched to the crowd gathered at the Democracy place, in front of the National Assembly: “I believe that the Cambodian people support democracy and the SRP which must win the elections. Democracy must win. I will soon return to the country to direct the party and win the elections by 100%. Some say that there is only one Sam Rainsy in Cambodia, when Sam Rainsy is far away, the SRP weakens. That’s wrong, there are millions of Sam Rainsy,” he declared to the accompaniment of “Long live democracy,” “Vote SRP” from the crowd.

Srourch Sambath, commune council from Teuk Thla quarter, in the district of Russey Keo, is very optimist with the upcoming election, and he assures that the absence of the leader will not have any psychological impact on his peers. He even thinks that some commune councils from other parties, the Funcinpec in particular, could entrust their voices to the SRPP. Following the speeches, the procession restarted to crisscross roads of the capital, and they even plan to light up candles, the symbol of the party, at sundown.

If Tep Nitha, the Secretary-General of the NEC (National Election Committee) is self-congratulating on the activities led by the three main parties during the campaign – the fourth party, the Party of the Khmer Democracy, was rather discreet due to lack of means – neither the CPP nor the Funcinpec party had organized large meetings to end the campaign. CPP Senator Ouk Boun Chhoeun explains that the only action planned by the party will consist of gathering Saturday the commune councils at the headquarters of their province to wait for the vote the following day. “Organizing a large procession is expensive, furthermore, if the commune councils move around too much, they can fall ill and thus, couldn’t participate to the vote,” he explained. Sabu Bacha, a Funcinpec Senator, recalls also that a large procession is not of the order since only the major voters will participate in the vote.

Created following the 1998 legislative election, the Senate was constituted in proportion to the new National Assembly. It counted 31 CPP seats, 21 Funcinpec seats, and 7 SRP seats, and it will be renewed for the first time this Sunday. Fifty seven seats will be decided by this election, 2 will by the National Assembly, and two by the King.