Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Bridget Di Certo
Phnom Penh Post
Cambodia’s main opposition party, the Sam Rainsy Party, and the Kingdom’s newest opposition party, the Human Rights Party, have agreed to a merger, the parties’ leaders said in a press conference from Manila today.
Sam
Rainsy will be president of the new party – to be called "Cambodia
Democratic Movement for National Rescue (Salvation)" – while HRP leader Kem Sokha
will serve as vice president.
The two parties combined to earn more than 30 per cent of the popular vote in the recent commune council elections.
“The
SRP and the HRP will unite in accordance with the Khmer people’s will
in order to save Cambodia by bringing about political change to put an
end to a dictatorship serving destructive foreign interests,” Rainsy and
Sokha said in a joint statement issued today.
Both parties are
extremely critical of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government
and have waged political campaigns on platforms calling for change and
democracy.
“The two parties absolutely insist on a change in the composition of the National Election Committee and
an overhaul of the current complicated election procedures that make
voting unnecessarily difficult,” the two political leaders further
stated.
Cambodia will hold national elections in July next year.
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