Sam Rainsy Return Raises the Stakes in Cambodian Election
The Diplomat | 19 July 2013
Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy touched down in Phnom Penh on Friday to a rapturous applause from his legions of supporters, who brought traffic to a standstill, showered him with garlands and demanded change at the July 28 elections.
“I missed you all so let’s go forward together,” he told a brief press conference in Khmer, packed with local and international journalists.
Local NGO Licadho (Cambodian League for the Promotion of Defense of Human Rights) estimated about 100,000 people turned out and had shut down the main road to the airport as Rainsy and his entourage boarded a convoy of black four-wheel-drives and began the arduous task of inching their way into the city.
His return marked the end of a near four-year exile, self-imposed after the courts sentenced him to an 11-year jail term in absentia for crimes that included the uprooting of markers defining the Vietnamese border which he said were illegally placed on Cambodian soil. He maintains the charges were politically motivated.
Rainsy was clearly overwhelmed by the reception, telling The Diplomat it was difficult for him to speak amid the deafening cheers and chants of the crowd while being mobbed by well-wishers.
Cambodians of all ages and walks of life braved the heat and paraded through the streets in what was by far the biggest day of campaigning for the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP).
The opposition has its best chance yet in challenging Prime Minister Hun Sen – the region’s longest serving elected leader – who pardoned Rainsy last week following months of international pressure from human rights groups, including Licadho, and the United States government.
However, Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) remain clear favorites to win this election on the back of a period of unprecedented growth in the aftermath of three decades of war which ended in 1998. But the CNRP has strengthened its support base among the Kingdom’s youth voters, particularly in the capital and provincial cities by campaigning on economic management.
Land grabbing and the granting of massive economic land concessions (ELCs) to Chinese and Vietnamese companies and a burgeoning wealth gap have also dogged the CPP in recent years, alongside the perennial issue of corruption and a culture of impunity that favors the rich and politically connected.
Those issues could result in the CPP losing its two-thirds majority in the National Assembly which enables it to rewrite the constitution.
The CPP currently holds 90 seats, while the CNRP, recently forged out of a merger between the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party, controls 29 seats. With Rainsy back and actively campaigning on home soil those numbers could change significantly.
2 comments:
Let me share my own views with our other 2 Khmer KI-Media readers as follow:
1.
Anonymous said...
ខ្ញុំអត់យល់សោះហេតុអីបានជាមានខ្មែរគំាទ្រ
គណបក្សយួន(គណបក្សប្រជាជន)អោយនយួនលួចប្លន់និងលេបទឹកដីឯង សំលាប់ជាតិសាសន៍ឯង?
My view:
CPP as some Khmer already know ( but some don’t ) that CPP was created by youn Hanoi in 1951 by late Ho Chi Minh under the old name of CPP that the Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party or KPRP for short . So CPP or the Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party or KPRP for short was created by late Ho Chi Minh and installed to power by youn Hanoi in 1979 ( 7th Jan ) to exterminated Khmer ethnics.
All the answers to Khmer crisis and dangers are all in youn Indochina Federation as the owner of the following comment as follow:
2
Anonymous said...
Khmers,
But Hanoi won't afford and give up to loose Cambodia, then Lao from its grip of Colonization very easy.
How far Hanoi had processed its so called Vietnamese Indochina Federation following to fulfill Ho Chi Minh's dream.
Be aware of another Hanoi-Hun Sen's trap in this coming election.
Mr. Um Hak had his ligical analysis posted earlier. Did Khmer oppositionhad ready it yet ?
Sithan
4:01 AM
My view:
I agree more than 100% with above comment that ( quote: But Hanoi won't afford and give up to loose Cambodia, then Lao from its grip of Colonization very easy.
How far Hanoi had processed its so called Vietnamese Indochina Federation following to fulfill Ho Chi Minh's dream.
Be aware of another Hanoi-Hun Sen's trap in this coming election. end quote,
My views : But together ( all Khmer at home and overseas united together ) we can force yuon Hanoi to give up Cambodia ( it is easier said than done ) but we all Khmer united then we can.
To Mr. Sam Rainsy:
Please keep you promise .
When Mr. Sam Rainsy arrives in Phnom Penh on Friday 19 July 2013 has said to thousand to his supporters that ( quote: if the national rescues party lose this 2013 election he will not except this election result. End quote.
My last view:
I and many other Cambodian include those friend of mine ( who have been in the crow to go and give moral support to Mr. Sam Rainsy ) already know that the result of this 2013 election will not expectable because the cheating of NEC and other factors ) so Mr. Sam Rainsy must implement plan B.
Down ah Ho Chi Minh's dream.
Down Indochina Federation.
Yes, people might have a dream, but, their dream is evil and others are smart enough to realise of this evil dream they will force this evil dream to end!
In the end ho chi minh will be forced by the international community to give up the evil dream and there will be no choice but to give up. Shame on Ho!
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