The Cambodia Daily
The Australian Senate yesterday urged the Cambodian government to run free and fair national elections next year without the “harassment or intimidation” of opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who remains in self-imposed exile avoiding an 11-year jail sentence.
The appeal comes only days after the European Parliament passed its own resolution condemning what it called Mr. Rainsy’s “politically motivated” sentence and urging the government to fix “major flaws” in how it runs the country’s elections.
Both Australia and the European Union (E.U.) are major aid donors to Cambodia.
The resolution from the Australian Senate “calls on the Cambodian government to hold free and fair elections in 2013 and to ensure that opposition parties are able to participate fully in Cambodian politics without physical or judicial harassment or intimidation, including opposition leader Sam Rainsy, as recommended by the U.N. special rapporteur.”
Surya Subedi, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights to Cambodia, in his latest report called for a political solution that would allow Mr. Rainsy to “play a full role in Cambodian politics” and recommended several other reforms to the election process.
Government officials have been taking an increasingly harsh view of Mr. Subedi’s reports, however, and have repeatedly rejected calls to let Mr. Rainsy return to Cambodia without arrest.
Mr. Rainsy, president of the eponymously named Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), was first convicted in 2010 of destroying public property for uprooting temporary border posts along Cambodia’s frontier with Vietnam and later of disinformation for posting maps of the area online.
The SRP, the country’s largest opposition party, is threatening a possible boycott of July’s national elections unless Mr. Rainsy is allowed back to contest the poll and unless the government concedes to reforms of an electoral process it accuses of favoring the ruling CPP.
On Friday, the European Parliament in Brussels passed a resolution of its own noting that E.U. observers found Cambodia’s last national elections in 2008 to have fallen short of international standards.
Mirroring Mr. Subedi’s language, it called on the government to work with the opposition so that it could “play a full role in Cambodian politics and in the forthcoming elections in order to provide credibility to the electoral process.”
6 comments:
It's been so long waiting to see this justice moment for my Khmer people. I thank GOD whom I have prayed everyday to free my nation and my people from Yuon and these vultures (CPP).
Dog Viet chit ass Lak heuy cham ter meul tov. His boss are trying have a good relation with USA because Vietnam is afraid from dragon China and anyway Vietnam debt China $ 152 billions by 1975 and till now China hasn't gotten one $ from Vietnam. Russia don't give money any more to Vietname and now try to deal with the former foe USA, that's shame? The question? Will the west countries loving freedom and democracy the Viet to annex Combodia by using Hun Sen? The question of Khmer problem is not Khmer and Khmer but the Viet using Khmer to kill Khmer and then take land from Khmer by pushing and using the illegal Viet immigrants into Cambodia.
Khmer must protest about this!
ចេះឯងឲ្យក្រែងចេះគេ មែនទេអាវ៉ា?
I agree. Ah Hun Sen was educated in Hanoi. On one hand Ah Hun Sen accepts the fund from EU, Australia and China, on the other hand, AH Hun Sen gives the money to Vietnam.
33 years under Ah Hun Sen is worse under this lowly uneducated farmer from Vietnam border.
U.N. must demanding that all illegal Vietnamese are not born in Cambodia are not eligible to Vote for Hun Sen.
To make it fair all Vietnamese in Cambodia cannot vote.
"major flaws"
Its a crime, its criminal activities.
What about the issue of millions of illegal vietnamese?
Khmer need to push these issue until is resolved!
In Christ name, and prayers.
We khmer can defeats our enemies while on our knees.
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