Supporters mob Cambodia's opposition leader Sam Rainsy on return from exile

Cambodia National Rescue party leader returns after royal pardon but faces huge electoral odds in challenging Hun Sen

Associated Press | 19 July 2013

Sam Rainsy (with glasses) greets supporters on his return to Phnom Penh. Photograph: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP

Thousands of cheering supporters greeted Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy as he returned from self-imposed exile on Friday to spearhead his party's election campaign against the prime minister, Hun Sen.

"I have come home to rescue the country," Rainsy told the crowd gathered at Phnom Penh airport, after kneeling to kiss the ground.

"I am happy to be here!" Rainsy told the crowd speaking through a microphone as the supporters chanted, "We want change!"

The French-educated leader of the Cambodia National Rescue party has been in exile since 2009 to avoid serving 11 years in prison on charges many consider politically motivated.

Rainsy, 64, received a royal pardon last week at the request of Hun Sen, his bitter rival, whose ruling party is almost certain to maintain its grip on power in the general election on 28 July.

Hun Sen has held power for 28 years, and his party holds 90 of the 123 seats in the national assembly. The prime minister recently said he intended to wield power until he was 74, having earlier promised to stay in control until he was 90.

Rainsy is a charismatic and fiery speaker, qualities that have landed him in trouble before. He is expected to draw large crowds as he embarks on a whirlwind campaign tour that his party says will take him to over a dozen provinces in a week. 

He is likely to push hard on issues of corruption and land grabbing, with tens of thousands of Cambodians displaced from their homes and farms under what are often shady circumstances.

Critics of the government claim the election will be neither free nor fair, arguing that Hun Sen's regime manipulates the levers of government and influences the judiciary to weaken the opposition.

Last month, 28 opposition MPs were expelled from parliament when a committee run by Hun Sen's party ruled they had broken the law because they had originally won their seats in the name of the Sam Rainsy party, but were campaigning under the recently established Cambodia National Rescue party, into which it was merged.

They can still run in the upcoming election, but without parliamentary immunity. Immunity from arrest is a great benefit in Cambodia's elections, and those without it are at risk of being charged with defamation for remarks seen critical of Hun Sen and his government.

"My return is no more than a step on a long journey towards achieving self-determination for Cambodia," Rainsy wrote after he was pardoned. He criticised the official election body as unsupportive of democracy.

"The mere fact of my return does not create a free and fair election for Cambodia," he said.