Cambodian Authorities Coerce Ruling Party Support in Capital Village

Villagers in Cambodia’s capital are being coerced into signing a petition supporting preliminary results issued by the country’s electoral body declaring a victory for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party in recent elections, despite opposition claims of widespread poll irregularities, a rights group said Monday. The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) made the claim as the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) vowed to go ahead with leading mass street protests if its demand for an independent probe into poll irregularities is rejected by the government. The group said in a statement Monday that it had received complaints of authorities forcing villagers to sign a petition acknowledging the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) as the winner of the July 28 election. The CCHR has “received worrying reports from villagers at Sangkat Teuk Laak I in Phnom Penh that the local authorities have been pressuring the villagers into signing a petition that states they agree with the election results released by the National Election Committee—the same results as those claimed by the Cambodian People’s Party,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, this is just one example of local authorities using their positions to pressure people into accepting the contested election results and to intimidate those who they believe to be supporters of the opposition.” Preliminary results by the National Election Committee (NEC), which organizes elections, support the CPP claim it had won 68 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly, against 55 for CNRP. …

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/coercion-08192013172208.html