SAM Rainsyសហស្ថាបនិកគណបក្សសង្គ្រោះជាតិ

THE EUROPEAN UNION AND CAMBODIA

ចែករំលែក ៖​

28 Jun 2019

From left: Tioulong Saumura (CNRP), Sam Rainsy (CNRP),  Ilhan Kyuchyuk (MEP from Bulgaria), Mu Sochua (CNRP), Phillip Bennion (MEP from the UK)

Meetings in Brussels this week between a CNRP delegation and officials of the European Union confirmed that the EU

 has a clear objective which is the restoration of democracy in Cambodia. Its leaders clearly understand that:

- There can be no democracy without an opposition
- There can be no real opposition in Cambodia without the CNRP.

Hun Sen has failed three times in his attempts to eliminate the CNRP from the hearts and minds of the Cambodian people and to create fake opposition parties to help form a façade of democracy. 
- Hun Sen's first failure was related to his attempt to lure the 5,007 CNRP elected commune councillors into defecting to the ruling CPP, but over 90% of them absolutely refused to do so and preferred to lose their positions obtained from universal suffrage. The European Commission Vice President Federica Mogherini has asked for the restitution to the CNRP of those positions presently confiscated by the CPP.
- Hun Sen's second failure was related to the illegitimate election he organised in 2018 without the participation of the CNRP, which had been arbitrarily dissolved the previous year. In spite of Hun Sen's effort to promote 19 fake opposition parties to try to "replace" the CNRP at the National Assembly, none of those phantom parties succeeded in winning a single seat, meaning the Cambodian people rejected all of them as a sign of silent support for the CNRP.
- Hun Sen's third failure was related to his attempt to push -- through a special law and various personal incentives -- the 118 CNRP officials who had been banned from politics when their party was dissolved in 2017, to ask for their "rehabilitation" under Hun Sen's terms and conditions. Finally, only 9 out of those 118 CNRP officials accepted Hun Sen's shameful offer while the others remain loyal to Kem Sokha and Sam Rainsy.

To avoid commercial sanctions from the European Union -- namely a suspension of the EBA programme -- Hun Sen must immediately release CNRP President Kem Sokha from de facto house arrest by dropping the ludicrous "treason" charge raised against him. Hun Sen must also reinstate the CNRP as a legitimate and loyal opposition party.

(End)