Hun Sen, the
country’s longtime leader, said he is open to compromise after his
Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the opposition Cambodian National
Rescue Party (CNRP) both claimed victory in Sunday’s general election.
The U.S. and European Union have expressed concern about voting
irregularities.
REUTERS
The New York Daily News
Wednesday, July 31, 2013,
SAMRANG PRING/Reuters
Hun Sen, 60, has served as Cambodia’s prime minister for 28 years.
Cambodia's long-serving leader, Hun Sen,
said on Wednesday his party was ready to talk to the opposition after
both sides claimed victory in Sunday's general election, talking of the
need for compromise but calling himself "prime minister elect.”
"We open our heart to compromise in order to create a parliamentary
leadership," Hun Sen said while on an inspection of a bridge
construction site, his first public appearance since the election and
his first comments on the deadlock.
"We have to respect the people's decision and if we don't, and turn to
violence ... that would lead to chaos in the whole country and this is
not what people want to see," he said.
The election campaign and voting on Sunday were largely peaceful but
Phnom Penh remains tense because of the political stand-off. Police and
the military are maintaining a presence on the streets, although
business is mostly back to normal.
Hun Sen, 60, has been prime minister for 28 years and has crushed
dissent in the past while maintaining tight control through his
Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and a network of business, government and
military allies.
Earlier on Wednesday, the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party
(CNRP), said it had won the general election, stepping up its battle
with Hun Sen's CPP, which has also claimed victory and rejected
accusations of electoral fraud.
Yim Sovann, a lawmaker and spokesman for the CNRP, said it had won 63
seats in the 123-member parliament, with the CPP getting 60.
"This is according to figures of votes we collected from various provinces and this needs to be investigated," he told Reuters.
The government announced on Sunday that the CPP had won 68 seats, a
sharp fall from its previous tally of 90 but beating what it said was
the CNRP's 55.
The National Election Committee (NEC) has yet to release official results and says it does not expect to do until mid-August.
RETURN FROM EXILE
The CNRP was formed last year from the merger of two opposition
parties. Long-time opposition leader Sam Rainsy returned from exile on
July 19 to galvanize its campaign after a royal pardon that removed the
threat of jail for what he called trumped-up charges relating to
criticism of a new border the government agreed with Vietnam.
That pardon was recommended by Hun Sen, apparently under pressure from
aid donors demanding a free and fair election, analysts said.
Sam Rainsy has demanded an inquiry into the election with U.N.
involvement, alleging in particular that up to 1.3 million names were
missing from the electoral rolls. The government has rejected that.
The United States and European Union have expressed concern about
irregularities but both have said an investigation should be conducted
by the NEC.
Hun Sen said his party was ready to talk to the NEC and the opposition
about the alleged irregularities. However, the Foreign Affairs Ministry
told foreign countries not to meddle.
"The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation would like to urge foreign diplomatic missions not to play a
role to support the opposition party," the ministry said in a
statement.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch called on Wednesday for an independent
investigation, saying senior CPP officials appeared to have issued fake
voting documents to supporters and had allowed some people to vote in
more than one place.
"The multiple voting scheme suggests the possibility of systematic
election fraud by the CPP and raises serious questions about the
credibility of the election," Brad Adams, its director for Asia, said in
a statement.
"Since the National Election Committee and local election commissions
are under the ruling party's control, influential governments and donors
should demand independent investigations into these and other credible
allegations of election-related irregularities," he said.
Even by the government's own figures, Sunday's vote was Hun Sen's worst
election result since Cambodia returned to full democracy in 1998 after
decades of war and turmoil that included the 1975-79 "Killing Fields"
rule of the Khmer Rouge.
Prolonged wrangling over the result and a weakened Hun Sen could raise
uncertainty over policy in the small but fast-growing Southeast Asian
country that has built up a thriving garment sector and forged economic
ties with China and Vietnam.
4 comments:
That Mother F just came back from Vietnam and ready to talk, he can't think when he losing and under pressure so he need advice from Hanoi. Once back he want to talk so he have plenty of time to mobilize Vietnam Army so he could do the same back in the day.... coup d'état. No doubt, this will repeat in the coming day. At the very end it was the youth still standing.
He welcome talks but stress that only if the nec finds it's necessary to do an investigation. He also stated that Cambodia doesn' t need international observers to participate in the investigation into voting irregularities, let only khmer and khmer people sort out the issues. Be very careful with hun sen, he doesn't care about the well being of Cambodia and the cambodian people.
That's what also though when he was missing these past days from the public where rant his mouth so much.
His boss told him to use same strategies like he did to weak, pathetic, corrupted FUNCINPEC party. Now look at FUNCINPEC not even one seat. Youn strategies are fight where they have too, buy where they have, intimidate where they can, DIVIDE & CONQUERED
A REAL WINNER WILL NEVER WANT TO NEGOTIATE. THIS GUY KNOWS THAT HE HAVE NO OTHER WAY OUT.
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