Listeners Wary as Hun Sen Changes His Tone

Residents of Phnom Penh on Sunday reacted with resignation and weariness to Prime Minster Hun Sen’s latest post-election speech, in which he prophesied chaos on the streets of Phnom Penh should opposition supporters protest the National Election Committee’s official election result, widely expected to be in favor of the CPP. Mr. Hun Sen’s initial response to his party’s disappointing performance in the July 28 election was uncharacteristically conciliatory. When he eventually appeared in Phnom Penh three days after the surprise election result, his tone confounded his critics as he re­ferred to opposition leader Sam Rainsy using the “Excellency” title, and invited an investigation into allegations of voter irregularities for the sake of “free and fair elections.” But two days later, during a visit to Kandal province on Friday, Mr. Hun Sen returned with a more defiant and familiar tone. Promising that he will press ahead with forming a new government, the prime minister in his two-hour long address warned that, by his legal interpretation, the CNRP’s hard-fought National Assembly seats could be ceded to his party should they refuse to take them. He also referred to the looting chaos of the 1997 factional fighting in Phnom Penh in light of the possibility of demonstrations by supporters of the CNRP, and gave short shrift to calls by some in the U.S. to cut aid to Cambodia, daring those to do so if they wished.

 The Cambodia Daily
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/listeners-wary-as-hun-sen-changes-his-tone-38273/