CNRP Supporters Practice Patience, Await Call

By Khuon Narim and Joshua Wilwohl 

The Cambodia Daily

August 1, 2013

Supporters of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) said Wednesday they were ready to mobilize in the streets to demonstrate against the election results as soon as the order came through from the party’s leadership.

Since Sunday’s vote and an almost immediate claim of victory by the ruling CPP, CNRP supporters have remained quiet and virtually invisible, a far cry from the noisy scenes on city streets and rural towns during the official campaign period when tens of thousands rallied on motorcycles calling for “change.”

The CNRP says it is busy as­sessing the extent of irregularities at ballot boxes, and expects its supporters to exercise patience.

“My leaders tell me not to do anything impolite,” said Kong Mas, 28, whose job is to send opposition party messages to the public via Facebook, the medium of choice for young CNRP activists.

“We are keeping quiet because they are negotiating. We are not afraid. This is not yet a victory,” he said.

But such patience is not shared by everyone who joined in the huge opposition campaign prior to Sunday’s vote, Mr. Mas said.

“I have received phone calls from people in the provinces that say if Hun Sen doesn’t accept that he lost, they are ready to protest,” he said.

While the CPP claimed an early victory, the CNRP now says it won the election, taking 63 seats in the National Assembly, and not the 55 seats the CPP said it had conceded.

Opposition supporters in Phnom Penh who were interviewed Wednesday said they would resist taking their grievances over the results of the election to the streets until they are urged to do so by CNRP president Sam Rainsy and vice president Kem Sokha.

They also said they expect, and fear, repercussions from the CPP if mass demonstrations do occur.

“Right now, we have not received information from our leaders as to what to do. We want to come out and celebrate, but we are afraid since the CPP announced they won,” CNRP supporter Sin Somphors, 29, said.

Kim Bunthang, 20, another CNRP supporter, said he was worried about his security, but would still protest if called on to do so.

“We are awaiting an order from both CNRP leaders to protest if the ruling party denies the CNRP won the election,” Mr. Bunthang said.

“The reason why supporters dare not to come out to congratulate [the] CNRP’s victory right now is because…the current government is powerful, and if they know the people who act against them, those people will disappear,” he said.

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said there were no plans to call supporters on to the streets, even in celebration, as long as investigations into irregularities at the poll are ongoing.

“What we have to do is collect the evidence of irregularity. We have to think about those who were deleted from the voter list. The results between CPP and CNRP are different,” Mr. Sovann said.

“This is not the time for celebration yet.”

Though Sunday’s unofficial election results claim a victory for the CPP, it was the worst showing for Mr. Hun Sen’s ruling party in the National Assembly since 1998. And despite their competing claims to victory, neither party has come out to publicly celebrate a win.

National Military Police spokesman Brigadier General Kheng Tito said that between 200 and 300 military police had been deployed throughout Phnom Penh since Sunday, particularly to stop protests.

“We want to prevent protests or protesters from doing anything more,” he added, referring to an election day riot when military police were chased away from a voting station and two of their vehicles were smashed and torched.

“They will [keep patrolling] until the new government sets up,” Brig. Gen. Tito said.

Using newly conciliatory language that echoed a speech by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said that the political divisions of the CNRP and CPP no longer existed.

“For this time being, we are no longer CPP or CNRP, we are the people. We are all equal. There are no longer CPP supporters or CNRP supporters. We are now all Cambodian citizens,” Mr. Siphan said.

“The election is over and both parties now have to go back to work and work together for the people.”

(Additional reporting by Dene-Hern Chen)