Monday, March 05, 2012

Political activists do not dare present their candidacy for fear of losing their personal benefits

04 March 2012
By Ky Soklim
Radio France Internationale
Translated from Khmer by Soch
On the other hand, at the SRP, Yim Sovann, the party’s spokesman, declared that threat and discrimination on his party’s activists are still prevalent. However, SRP activists are very courageous and even with discrimination against them, SRP activists are competing with each others to have their names listed as candidates and they are not afraid of anything.
A number of political parties indicated that they have a hard time recruiting candidates for the upcoming commune elections which will take place in June. A number of political activists support their parties in their heart, but they do not dare present their candidacy to the election because this could affect their work and their professions.

“They only support the party in their heart, but they do not dare present themselves to the public. This is difficult for a number of parties to recruit candidates for the commune election which will take place on 03 June.”

Nhem Ponharith, a MP for Kem Sokha’s HRP party, declared on Sunday that his party encounters some difficulties in recruiting candidates for the commune election in Phnom Penh city. He said that activists for his party who work for the government or are businessmen, do not dare present their candidacy because they are afraid of losing their benefits. Even though they do not present their candidacy, they still continue to support the HRP.


The HRP which has 3 seats at the NatAss (National Assembly) is moving to the commune election for the first time in 2012. The HRP has candidates in 1,132 out of a total of 1,633 communes and it hopes to receive seats in all communes where their candidates are represented.

The NRP (Norodom Ranariddh Party), which holds 2 seats at the NatAss, files 1,050 candidates throughout the country. Pen Sanghar, the NRP spokesman, indicated that the NRP is encountering the same problem as the HRP for candidates. Pen Sanghar said that in his party, some people decided to present their candidacy only to pull out later. He believes that this is due to threat or buying out schemes. Nevertheless, he still hopes that his party will win more than what it did in 2007.

On the other hand, at the SRP, Yim Sovann, the party’s spokesman, declared that threat and discrimination on his party’s activists are still prevalent. However, SRP activists are very courageous and even with discrimination against them, SRP activists are competing with each others to have their names listed as candidates and they are not afraid of anything.

Tep Nitha, the secretary of the National Election Cheating (NEC) showed that the current number of parties listed for the upcoming commune election is 11. These parties are competing for commune seats in 1,633 communes all over the country. 9.2 million Cambodians are registered to vote for the upcoming 03 June 2012.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ah FUCKING HUN SEN said his salary is only $1300 per months. Who is he fooling?