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© AFP
Self-exiled Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy announced
he will return to his homeland on Friday, after spending four years
abroad, to campaign for his party against entrenched Prime Minister Hun
Sen in the upcoming national polls.
By News Wires (text)
Cambodia’s self-exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy will return
to his homeland on Friday, less than two weeks before his beleaguered
party challenges entrenched Prime Minister Hun Sen in national polls,
Rainsy announced.
Sam Rainsy announced the date of his intended return on his Facebook
page a day after Hun Sen engineered a pardon for his most prominent
rival. Fellow party members gave the same date.
The pardon cleared the way for Sam Rainsy to return to campaign for his party without facing immediate arrest and imprisonment.
It came after the U.S. and others had said the exclusion of Sam
Rainsy from the July 28 vote would call into question the polls’
legitimacy. His return is not likely to greatly affect the big picture
at the polls, where Hun Sen appears assured of extending his 28-year
rule.
The U.S. welcomed the pardon, with State Department spokeswoman Jen
Psaki saying Washington called on the Cambodian government “to
facilitate a safe environment for his return and allow for his
meaningful and unfettered participation in the elections.”
The U.S. statement also urged reforms recommended by a U.N. human rights expert to ensure free and fair elections.
In an emailed statement released Friday by his party, Sam Rainsy
thanked the king for his pardon, and said he knew that he had “never
done anything wrong.”
“I would have returned even in the absence of a pardon to highlight
the condition of democracy in my country. My return is no more than a
step on a long journey towards achieving self-determination for
Cambodia,” he wrote.
He criticized the official election body as unsupportive of
democracy, saying “The mere fact of my return does not create a free and
fair election for Cambodia.”
The campaign can be expected to be fairly rambunctious. Sam Rainsy is
often sharp-tongued in his rhetoric, and his party has been drawing
large crowds of enthusiastic young people.
Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party has the resources of the state
behind it, and in the past has been accused of using intimidation and
force against its opponents.
However, the first shots form the two bitter rivals were an exchange
of niceties, as Sam Rainsy conveyed his condolences over the death of
Hun Sen’s father this past week.
Hun Sen thanked him and his party for the gesture in a letter Friday, and added “I hope that you will return in the nearest future to join political life again.”
Hun Sen thanked him and his party for the gesture in a letter Friday, and added “I hope that you will return in the nearest future to join political life again.”
Sam Rainsy has lived abroad since 2009 to avoid 11 years in prison on charges widely seen as politically motivated.
King Norodom Sihamoni pardoned him Friday at Hun Sen’s request. Hun
Sen’s letter requested the pardon “in the spirit of national
reconciliation, national unity and to make sure the national election
process is conducted under the principal of democracy, with freedom and
pluralism and jointly by all involved parties.”
The pardon came shortly after Sam Rainsy declared that he planned to
come back before the election, which suggests a deal may have been
worked out.
The pardon would appear to benefit both Sam Rainsy and Hun Sen.
Though Sam Rainsy is seen as the sole Cambodian politician with the
charisma and resources to present any real challenge to the well-entrenched prime minister and his party, Hun Sen is still expected to win in a landslide.
charisma and resources to present any real challenge to the well-entrenched prime minister and his party, Hun Sen is still expected to win in a landslide.
Still, a return would provide at least a morale boost for Sam
Rainsy’s party, which has been greatly handicapped by having its leader
absent.
For Hun Sen, the move pre-empts some of the criticism that the
election is unfair. He has used similar tactics before, pressuring his
opponents until they were in disarray, then making conciliatory gestures
at the last minute.
Sam Rainsy went into exile after he was convicted and sentenced to
two years in prison for moving border markers at the frontier with
Vietnam, seven years for spreading false information about the border
with Vietnam and two years for defaming Foreign Minister Hor Namhong by
associating him with the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime of the late 1970s.
(AP)
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