2 Cambodian parties make alliance before general election

PHNOM PENH, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Two small political parties in Cambodia, the Khmer Anti-Poverty Party (KAP) and the Justice Society Party (JSP) announced Monday that they agreed to make an alliance before the general election on July 27.

"We will both get benefit from this alliance because we could get more votes and have more seats in the parliamentary election," KAP President Krovagn Darorn told reporters.

"We will help each other in this election campaign," he added.

"We have similar political platforms. Therefore we could reach this alliance agreement," JSP President Ban Sophal said.

Long Rith, president of the Khmer Republican Party (KRP) also showed to make alliances.

"Up to now, we have not put all things on the table to discuss and I do not refuse to do so," he said.

Cambodia will conduct the parliamentary election on July 27, in which all 11 parties will compete for 123 seats in the National Assembly.

Two Minor Parties Invite All Parties to Unify

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
07 July 2008

The Society of Justice and Khmer Anti-Poverty parties on Monday made a public invitation for the country's nine other parties to join them for the upcoming election.

"I urge you, the small parties and big parties, come and join us," Kravanh Daran, president of the Khmer Anti-Poverty Party, said Monday. "I want you to unify. This is the sample of unity of our country. Please be brave and stand up, go forward to reach our beautiful destiny. I would like all of you to come together."

Both parties announced they would officially join together to help each other's candidates.

"After the political alliance, we can get more support from the voters," Ban Sophal, president of the Society of Justice Party, said. "And from now on, we cannot lose our voters."

Officials of the Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties said Monday they were not concerned with such unity, but with their separate political campaigns.

The Society of Justice and Khmer Anti-Poverty parties are both running on platforms of unity, claiming Monday that "Cambodia was once a large and well-known country but now it is small and un-unified" and calling the country's leaders to "work together" for Cambodians, "who are awaiting unity."

Three Small Parties Consider Alliance

By Win Thida, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 July 2008

The Khmer Anti-Poverty Party and the Society of Justice Party have agreed to help each other in an "alliance" during the campaign, and a third, the Khmer Republican Party is considering joining them, party officials said Tuesday.

Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, said Tuesday such an alliance was unlikely to sway the outcome of the election.

However, party leaders said they hoped to bolster each other's efforts in provinces where one party was not represented but could still support another.