Cambodian Human Right Party fails to form opposition bloc

Human Right Party's logo.

Cambodia's opposition Human Right Party (HRP)'s steering committee has announced its secret negotiations with opposition democrats, nationalists and royalists have not resulted in unification, local newspaper the Mekong Times reported Tuesday. The HRP leadership has long been discussing a possible unification with the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP), said Keat Sokun, deputy HRP president. "We have worked secretly with locals and those overseas on unification," he said, adding that HRP officials have met with representatives of the SRP and NRP, but the effort has to date not yielded positive results. Keat Sokun blamed the SRP for the lack of a coherent political opposition, saying that SRP representatives had claimed their party needed no help. Still, he said the HRP remains adamant that a unified opposition would be best for Cambodia.

Source:Xinhua

The Mekong Times: Human Rights Party regrets
failure to form opposition bloc:

The opposition Human Rights Party (HRP)’s steering committee has announced its secret negotiations with opposition democrats, nationalists and royalists have not resulted in unification, a long-time HRP goal.

HRP leadership has long been discussing a possible unification with the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP), said Keat Sokun, deputy HRP president.

“We have worked secretly with locals and those overseas on unification,” he said. “HRP [officials have] met with representatives of the SRP and NRP but the HRP’s secret effort to unite democratic parties has to date not yieldedpositive results.”

Keat Sokun blamed the SRP for the lack of a coherent political opposition, saying that SRP representatives had claimed their party needed no help.

Still, he said the HRP remains adamant a unified opposition would be best for Cambodia. NRP spokesman Muth Chantha admitted negotiations had failed but other measures were still possible. “We can discuss and share provinces and cities for [our members] to stand for during the election so that [we can] prevent democratic ballots from being cast for [other parties]. Furthermore, we also can form an alliance of democratic parties and stand under this name in the forthcoming election. This method has worked in some countries.”

Muth Chantha stressed his party is still appealing for unification of democratic parties.SRP officials claimed that unification between opposition parties could be made only in “the clouds.”

“We respect the will of over a million voters who cast ballots in favor of the SRP,” SRP Deputy President Kong Korm said. “The 2007 communal council election’s results clearly showed that there are only two rival parties – the SRP and the Cambodian People’s Party [CPP].”

Electoral observers have said a united democratic opposition may be the only way to compete against the powerful ruling party.

Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, said that unification was a question to be settled by party leaders. He warned whether to unite or not could affect the political balance of power between the ruling party and the opposition.

“I believe that if the three parties unite together and share the same goal, Cambodia will be firmerand more balanced,” he opined.

Ly Menghour (Additional reporting by Neth Pheaktra)