September 26, 2012
Cambodia's longstanding leader has dismissed opposition threats to boycott next year's general election, saying it would just open the way for other parties to run.
Prime Minister Hun Sen spoke on Tuesday in response to statements by the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party threatening to boycott the polls if the leadership of the state election body is not changed. They accuse the National Election Committee of unfairly favouring Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party.
Hun Sen has dominated Cambodian politics since becoming prime minister in 1985 at 33. His party won an overwhelming victory in the 2008 general election by winning 91 seats in the 123-seat lower house of parliament.
The next polls are scheduled for July 28, 2013.
Hun Sen said he read of the boycott threat in the newspapers.
'That's good. Other parties: please get ready,' Hun Sen said in a speech to graduating students.
'The voters who don't vote for the Cambodian People's Party will vote for those parties that join the election.'
Hun Sen said the opposition demand simply reflected their frustration at failing to win in past elections.
But Yim Sovann, a spokesman of Sam Rainsy Party, charged that the last election was neither free nor fair.
He said that 1.5 million would-be voters were unable to register because of a technical problem that was the election board's fault.
He also accused it of failing to restrain the widespread use of state resources - including government vehicles - by ruling party campaigners, as well as vote buying.
'If things like this happen again and again, then the election result next year will not be any different. So why would we need to join the election?' Yim Sovann said.
Next July's polls will be the fifth parliamentary election since the United Nations brokered a peace deal for the country in 1991, a process meant to end decades of civil unrest that included the 1975-79 genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge.
Cambodia's longstanding leader has dismissed opposition threats to boycott next year's general election, saying it would just open the way for other parties to run.
Prime Minister Hun Sen spoke on Tuesday in response to statements by the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party threatening to boycott the polls if the leadership of the state election body is not changed. They accuse the National Election Committee of unfairly favouring Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party.
Hun Sen has dominated Cambodian politics since becoming prime minister in 1985 at 33. His party won an overwhelming victory in the 2008 general election by winning 91 seats in the 123-seat lower house of parliament.
The next polls are scheduled for July 28, 2013.
Hun Sen said he read of the boycott threat in the newspapers.
'That's good. Other parties: please get ready,' Hun Sen said in a speech to graduating students.
'The voters who don't vote for the Cambodian People's Party will vote for those parties that join the election.'
Hun Sen said the opposition demand simply reflected their frustration at failing to win in past elections.
But Yim Sovann, a spokesman of Sam Rainsy Party, charged that the last election was neither free nor fair.
He said that 1.5 million would-be voters were unable to register because of a technical problem that was the election board's fault.
He also accused it of failing to restrain the widespread use of state resources - including government vehicles - by ruling party campaigners, as well as vote buying.
'If things like this happen again and again, then the election result next year will not be any different. So why would we need to join the election?' Yim Sovann said.
Next July's polls will be the fifth parliamentary election since the United Nations brokered a peace deal for the country in 1991, a process meant to end decades of civil unrest that included the 1975-79 genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge.
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