More than 20,000 people have registered as independent observers for the upcoming commune elections—far more than five years ago—with three weeks still to go until the enrollment deadline.
Hang Puthea, a spokesman for the National Election Committee (NEC), which is running the June 4 poll, said that since mid-February, just over 20,540 independent observers had registered to watch over the 22,000 polling stations. About 100 of them are from abroad, mostly from the U.S. and E.U.
Opposition leader Kem Sokha has lined up a series of meetings with U.S. officials over the next two days as the party seeks closer international scrutiny of upcoming elections and what it hopes could be the first democratic transition of power in Cambodia.
Currently in Washington, Mr. Sokha is set to meet with U.S. officials handling Asia issues for the National Security Council, State Department and Defense Department, as well as the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Relations and other officials specializing in human rights and Asia, said Kem Monovithya, the CNRP’s deputy director of public affairs and Mr. Sokha’s daughter.
CNRP vice presidents-elect Pol Ham and Eng Chhay Eang are expected to arrive in South Korea on Thursday to meet Cambodian migrant workers.
Mr. Ham and Mr. Chhay Eang, who were elected by the party as vice presidents in February but have yet to get an all-clear from the Interior Ministry, plan to promote the party among Cambodian workers, said Yim Sinorn, head of the CNRP’s youth wing in South Korea.
CNRP vice-presidents-elect Pol Ham and Eng Chhay Eang are expected to arrive in South Korea on Thursday to meet migrant workers.
Mr. Ham and Mr. Chhay Eang, who were elected by the party as vice-presidents in February but have yet to get an all-clear by the Interior Ministry, planned to promote the party among Cambodian workers, said Yim Sinorn, head of CNRP’s Youth Wing in South Korea.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday defended his government’s often-criticized record on trying to find work for Cambodian citizens overseas, claiming he was working hard to find jobs in the Middle East for the country’s Muslims.
“[S]ome of our brothers and sisters have mocked the government by saying the government has built a lot but people have become slaves to others,” he said, referring to the many Cambodians working abroad illegally. “But they should see that the way for workers is opening widely through regional integration and relationships with every country.”
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday called on the U.S. to revise a repatriation agreement with Cambodia in order to allow Cambodians living under threat of deportation from the U.S. to stay with their families and avoid “a sad separation.”
The premier also reiterated that while Cambodia hoped to renegotiate the 2002 agreement with the U.S., the pact remained in effect.
CNRP President Kem Sokha is headed tomorrow to the U.S., where he will meet key officials in the administration of President Donald Trump and raise funds and awareness among Cambodians in cities across the country.
Mr. Sokha announced the two-week trip on Wednesday on his Facebook page, a day after meeting with W. Patrick Murphy, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, at the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh.
CNRP President Kem Sokha on Tuesday said his party had only peaceful intentions for change, rebutting repeated CPP claims that an opposition party election victory would bring war to Cambodia.
“We are absolutely not making a change through a coup, war, revolution or other forms of violence,” Mr. Sokha said at CNRP headquarters in Phnom Penh.
The CNRP on Tuesday unanimously approved an amendment of its bylaws that it hopes will satisfy the Interior Ministry’s demands and allow for the official recognition of the party’s three vice presidents.
Yesterday’s snap congress marks the party’s third attempt in two months to appease the ministry and allow lawmakers Eng Chhay Eang, Mu Sochua and Pol Ham to officially become deputy presidents.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday attended the opening of a $36.5 million bridge that links Cambodia’s National Road 21 in Kandal province to Vietnam’s An Giang province, boasting that the project would boost trade and cooperation between the two countries.
Standing alongside his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Mr. Hun Sen also took the opportunity to display his fluency in Vietnamese, speaking in the language for several minutes and adding that he hoped “people will not condemn me for speaking Vietnamese.”
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