‘We are not afraid’: Rainsy
In a fiery speech attended by thousands, opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday vowed that his party would boycott the National Assembly if a thorough investigation of election results is not undertaken and vowed mass demonstrations if preliminary numbers aren’t revised to reflect a Cambodia National Rescue Party win. “We are determined not to allow someone to steal Khmer people’s success,” screamed a hoarse-sounding Rainsy, just hours before he was set to board a plane to America to attend his daughter’s wedding. “Don’t threaten us. [We] are not afraid. [We] will hold a very big mass demonstration.” … “We do not want to hold a protest. If [the CPP] wants to avoid a demonstration, it must resolve the [problem] properly.” While early NEC figures appear to confirm the CPP’s claim that it won 68 seats to the CNRP’s 55, the opposition has maintained from the start that its gains were far higher. Last week, the party announced it had won at least 63 of the National Assembly’s 123 seats based on figures from its polling monitors. Yesterday, CNRP deputy president Kem Sokha announced that figure was even higher and claimed the government was well aware. “At five o’clock [election day], the result was given to me. We won 70 per cent. When they heard CNRP won 70 per cent, they told someone to issue the result as 68 to 55 and they ordered someone to tell NEC to declare according to this result,” he said, adding that they believed more than 70 per cent of armed forces and civil servants had voted for the opposition. … The government, for its part, slammed Rainsy’s claims, noting that the party had announced its intention to disregard the results long before the vote was even held. “No matter what the results were, they wouldn’t respect it,” said Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan, who stressed, once again, that UN involvement breached the NEC’s own policies. … Though Siphan was loath to speak about the possibility of mass demonstrations, he said they would be met “with how the law proscribes”. …
Meas Sokchea and Abby Seiff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98we-are-not-afraid%E2%80%99-rainsy
