Scrutinise poll, Sam Rainsy says

The Nation, Agencies, July 30, 2013

Sam Rainsy

The margin of 68 out of 123 seats in Parliament might make it very uncomfortable for the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) to rule the country legitimately, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said yesterday in raising the possibility of instability in politics as he rejected the result of the weekend's election.

"There are too many irregularities in the poll," Sam Rainsy said.

About 1.2 million to 1.3 million eligible voters failed to cast a ballot as their names had disappeared, he said. His party won 55 Lower House seats in the election, a much better showing than 29 before the poll.

An independent committee should be formed with representatives from both parties, international organisations and the United Nations to spend a month scrutinising the election irregularities, he said.

The demand could delay the inauguration of parliament and formation of the new government. Sam Rainsy's Cambodia National Rescue Party believes it would score an absolute victory over the CPP if the irregularities were corrected.

The government dismissed the proposal. Spokesman Phay Siphan suggested that the opposition raised the question simply to bargain for power with the CPP.

Sam Rainsy denied he was trying to get into the cabinet and said he was only seeking justice for Cambodians.

Observers said Sam Rainsy's move might push Cambodian politics into gridlock and perhaps into violence as had happened several times after previous rounds since the first contest in 1993.

With a majority, the CPP might have no problem forming the new government on its own and make its leader Hun Sen the prime minister for another term, but it might face some difficulties in passing anything through parliament, which requires an absolute majority vote and sometimes even a two-thirds vote.