Sar Kheng accepts Sourn Serey Ratha's party request

 

PHNOM PENH (The Cambodia Herald) -- Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, Minister of Interior, has accepted request of Sourn Serey Ratha who is seeking to create a political party in Cambodia, a senior government official confirmed Friday.

Sourn Serey Ratha, President of US-based Khmer People Power Movement, sent a letter to Ministry of Interior in mid-February for second time, asking to form Khmer People Power Party. 

The Prime Minister Hun Sen' outspoken critic, who live in the United States, previously asked for the party creation, but was denied by the Ministry of Interior for lacking of enough documents. 

Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for Ministry of Interior, said that the acceptance of Sourn Serey Rath's request doesn't mean that there will be 'Khmer [People] Power Party' automatically.

"It is an acceptance, but it is not registered yet," Sopheak said. 

"His request has to pass conditions of party registration. Examination of thumbprints of 4,000 supporters, for instance," he said. 

Last month, Sourn Serey Rath was sentenced in absentia by Phnom Penh Municipal Court to seven years imprisonment on the charges of treason, obstructing electoral procedures in 2013, and attempt to topple the Cambodian government.