Opposition Voters in Preah Vihear Claim Threat of Eviction
Locals and rights groups on Wednesday said dozens of farmers in a village in Preah Vihear province have been singled out for eviction after supporting the opposition CNRP in last month’s vote, a claim their village chief denied. Residents of Choam Ksan district’s Kom Prak village said their village chief has threatened them with eviction. Though all of the roughly 200 families in the village lack titles to their homes and small farms, residents said village chief Chan Heng has singled out only 44 families that he suspected of voting for the CNRP. Men Samorn, who voted for the CNRP, said Mr. Heng addressed the 44 families the day after the election, by which time the CPP had already issued its own unofficial results claiming it had lost 22 of its 90 National Assembly seats. “He said all these villagers should prepare to move out of their houses and off their land because they live in a government controlled area and use roads built by the CPP but they voted for the CNRP,” she said. Ms. Samorn said she moved to the village five years ago and has been cultivating a 5-hectare plot of rice and green beans since then. And while none of the villagers have titles, she said all of them paid hundreds of dollars for the land. …
