Sam Rainsy calls for a re-vote

Cambodge Soir
31-07-2008

Due to the scope of the electoral rigging he has been denouncing since Sunday, the opposition leader is trying to mobilise citizens, starting with those that could not cast their ballots.

The opposition MP has found his hobby horse: rigged elections. This Wednesday, July 30, morning he invited all those who could not vote to come to SRP headquarters to testify. He took the opportunity to announce that SRP MPs filed a complaint to the National election Committee. He also requested a re-vote.

In front of hundreds of people standing in the rain, men and women took the floor next to a seemingly satisfied Sam Rainsy who regularly interjected to denounce the elections. A woman explained that of her family “only two out of the seven old enough to vote were able to do so". A man wearing a blue cap, intimidated by the crowd, expressed his dismay with the ballot which he described as “false’. One of the SRP observers, showing his green badge, explained that his name was not even on the list.

Actions punished by the Law

At the beginning of his speech an eloquent Sam Rainsy, wearing black trousers and white shirt, expressed his surprise that “citizens eligible to vote for the commune elections in 2007 had their names taken off the general elections lists”. He emphasized the lack of respect for international standards during the election and that “the observers did not notice anything, as they stayed in the polling stations”.

In a more threatening tone, he stated that the massive use of form 1018 - the form that enables citizens to vote on behalf of someone else – “by the village chiefs who did so, is punishable by law”.

According to his calculations, the opposition was deprived of one million votes. He went even further: “if these had been fair elections then the SRP would hold 52 seats and the CPP 45”.< The opposition should then be governing.

Soldiers, police and security forces were posted in the surrounding streets and avenues in order to prevent any potential troubles.