Election Results Ratified in Cambodia, but Opposition Plans Boycott
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Version 0 of 1. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia’s opposition said Sunday that it would boycott the opening session of Parliament and carry out more street protests even though the election victory of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s party has now been officially ratified. Sam Rainsy, leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, told reporters that his party would not take part in any form of government as a matter of principle until there was an independent investigation of accusations of election irregularities. Earlier Sunday, the government-appointed National Election Committee ratified results giving Mr. Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party 68 seats in the National Assembly, and the opposition party 55. Parliament has to convene within 60 days of the July 28 election. Mr. Sam Rainsy said the opposition would hold public demonstrations next week, which might include rallies or marches, to press its demand for an investigation. Mr. Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia for 28 years and remains firmly in control, although the opposition won significantly more seats than it had in the past. The opposition has claimed it would have won a majority of seats had the election been fair, but its legal challenges were rejected. About 20,000 opposition supporters gathered Saturday in Phnom Penh, the capital, to cheer their leaders’ demands for an investigation of what their leaders said was vote tampering and widespread voter disenfranchisement. “As long as the ruling party does not accept the truth to be exposed, and does not accept to render justice to the Cambodian people through voting, we will not participate in any form of government or any form of arrangement with the ruling party, because it is a matter of principle,” Mr. Sam Rainsy said Sunday. “We’re never going to compromise our principles.” He suggested that if Mr. Hun Sen’s party proceeded to rule with a single-party Parliament and no investigation of the election results, it would be rejected by the Cambodian people and other countries, so that “Cambodia will be really headed for trouble, for instability.” It was not clear how long a boycott of Parliament would last. A deputy opposition leader, Kem Sokha, said it would apply to the opening day of the new National Assembly, while Mr. Sam Rainsy’s remarks implied that it would be open-ended. After previous elections, opposition members have boycotted initial assembly sessions and later been admitted into the body. But a boycott could mean the opposition loses out on parliamentary leadership positions like committee chairmanships. While the opposition previously seemed to hope it could invalidate some of the election results, it now may be seeking a show of strength mostly to press Mr. Hun Sen’s party to give up some of the leadership positions. David Chandler, a leading Cambodia scholar, said it would be wise for the opposition lawmakers to simply take up the 55 seats they won rather than risk losing their say in the government. “I can sympathize with the C.N.R.P., but I think they’re being very unrealistic in their demands for power,” he said. |