A Change of Guard

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Thursday 4 November 2010

SRP-HRP to merge before elections


By Khmerization
Source: everyday.com

The spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) said the SRP and the Human Rights Party (HRP) will merge before the elections due in 2012 and 2013, but said the two parties could not merge sooner than this because of legal hurdles for the merger.

Mr. Yim Sovan (pictured), spokesman for the SRP, said if the two parties merged they will lose parliamentary seats because of the parliamentary internal rules and regulations which stipulate that parties that take new identity will lose parliamentary seats. However, he said the two parties will merge before the elections. It is not sure which election he was talking about, but the commune election is scheduled to be held in 2012 and the parliementary election will be held in 2013.

Mr. Cheam Yeap, a Cambodian People's Party stalwart, said he welcomes the merger of the two parties, but said the merger of the two parties will not be able to dislodge the ruling Cambodian People's Party from power because it has a strong foundation, from local to national levels. "I can predict that they cannot beat us. Even if the two parties merged they still can't beat us in the elections", he said.

Mr. Kul Panha, executive director of Committee for Free and Fair Elections (COMFREL), said he can't predict whether the merger of these two parties will lead them to election victories, but he thinks that the newly-merged party will be able to win more parliamentary seats.

It was reported that the visiting U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also recommended the two parties to merge. During a meeting between SRP and HRP MPs with Mrs. Hillary Clinton on 1st of November, it was widely reported that Mrs. Clinton had encouraged the opposition parties to form a comprehensive political platform with which to compete against the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

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