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| (Photo: Reuters) |
By May Titthara and Abby Seiff
The Phnom Penh Post
The US has once again censured Cambodia for its refusal to allow opposition leader Sam Rainsy to run in the upcoming elections, saying it delegitimised the Kingdom’s claims of democracy.
The subject was raised in Friday’s US State Department press briefing, and came just hours after the National Election Committee publicly reaffirmed that Rainsy would not be permitted to run or vote. The NEC in November deemed Rainsy ineligible and removed his name from the voter rolls.
Rainsy, who lives in self-imposed exile in France, faces 12 years’ imprisonment should he return on charges popularly believed to be trumped up. In response to a question on the Cambodian National Rescue Party president’s ineligibility to run, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the State Department was “disappointed” by the NEC’s continued refusal to allow Rainsy’s participation.
“We are disappointed in the Cambodian National Election Committee’s announcement recently again reiterating that Sam Rainsy was removed from the official voter list for the July 2013 elections due to criminal convictions, which credible observers believe have been politically motivated,” she said. “[T]he exclusion of a leading opposition leader calls into question the legitimacy of the whole democratic process in Cambodia. So we’ll continue raising this and, as I said, we are disappointed.”
NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha brushed aside the criticisms and defended the decision to block Rainsy.
“We cannot accept [convicts] as election candidate . . . [I]f someone is a convict, the NEC cannot accept them to be a parliamentarian,” he said.
The NEC has cited election law in its ban, but Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia Executive Director Koul Panha called it a misreading.
“The laws do not state that convicts must be deleted from poll registration,” he said, noting that Rainsy’s convictions could theoretically be overturned and that removing him from voter lists would unjustly disenfranchise him.
3 comments:
គណបក្សសង្គ្រោះជាតិ យួនយៀកកុង !
គណបក្សរងគ្រោះទឹក-ដីជាតិខ្មែរ !
គណបក្សសង្គ្រោះអំណាចអា(CPP)ហ៊ុន សែន!
គណបក្សសង្គ្រោះជាតិខ្មែរ ក្លែងក្លាយ-ប្រជាភិថុត!
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បើខ្មែរចង់សើច......សូមកុំទៅបោះឆ្នោត!
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បើខ្មែរចង់យំ........បោះឆ្នោតទៀតទៅ!
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday that the U.S. was disappointed by the announcement from Cambodia’s election committee that Rainsy has been removed from the official voter list because of criminal convictions that carry 12 years in prison. The U.S. says Cambodia’s decision to bar exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy from July elections calls into question the vote’s legitimacy.
Whether or not Sam Rainsy is in Cambodia, There are millions of Sam Rainsy voters in Cambodia who have been victims of oppression and land grabbing. Although we will not be able to use force against the puppet government installed by Vietnam, we will go to vote in mass to remove Hun Sen et al from Power. We would support our patriotic leaders, Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha to win the national election first and then use all legal means such as International court of Justice at the Hague and the United Nations based on Cambodia Map deposited at the UN in 1963.
Sam Rainsy is the best Kaun Khmer patriot who dares to declare that Vietnam is the new colonialist that annexed most of Cambodian territory. That is why he is the only Khmer that Vietnam is afraid of. Vietnam try by all mean to eliminate him from Cambodia by using its puppet government and kangaroo court in Cambodia to deny Sam Rainsy in entering Cambodia. This is the 21st century; Vietnam can not colonize Cambodia as the last century. The 1991 Paris Peace Agreement (1991 PPA) signed by 19 signatory countries including Cambodia and Vietnam. If Cambodia has a new government which is independent of Vietnam, it can ask the signatory countries to reconvene the 1991 PPA to rescind all unequal treaties between Hun Sen Government and Vietnam from 1979 to 2005 and reclaim all lost territory annexed by Vietnam during that period. No matter how sneaky Vietnam is, it will not be able to hide its bad intention any more. The world knows that Vietnam is not a honest nation. Vietnam is a thief who never respects its promise. During Vietnam American war, King Sihanouk of Cambodia helped Vietnam by offering a sentinel or a hiding place near the border of Cambodia and Vietnam to protect Vietnamese and Vietcong from US bombing. In return Vietnam repays the debt by taking a big chunk of Cambodian territory including Kah Tral. Only China knows how to deal with Vietnam, because they used to control Vietnam for thousand years. Forget about South China Sea, Vietnam will never be able to get rid of China, even though it try to induce USA to fight with China. Now the USA learned a lot of lesson from Vietnam’s sneakiness and will not let Vietnam to take advantage of it any more. We, Khmer nationalists will kick illegal Vietnamese immigrant out no matter how long it will take. Cambodia is our sacred land; we have inalienable right to retake our homeland from its occupation and control.
If Vietnam wants to be a good neighbor of Cambodia, it should have let United Nations take over Cambodia after removing Pol Pot from power in Phnom-Penh.
Vietnam should never have occupied Cambodia for 10 years from 1979 to 1989 and sent 6 millions of Vietnamese illegal immigrants to exploit the natural resource of Cambodia and annexed a few thousand squares kilometers of lands and 30,000. square kilometers of maritime territories including our big island Kah Tral.
Vietnam is an international thief and knows how to hide its bad intentions in front of international communities. It is an untrustworthy nation full of malevolence.
Tep Nytha,
YOU yourself are the CONVICT for not allowing the strongest
opposition candidate to run.
Conviction of what ?
It was because of Dictator and Traitor Hun Sen ordered you to say so ?
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