Opposition Election Boycott Would Deny Credibility of The Winner

October 20, 2012

Sam Rainsy's opinion on a possible election boycott as published in The Cambodia Daily, October 19, 2012

OPPOSITION ELECTION BOYCOTT WOULD DENY CREDIBILITY OF THE WINNER

Reports that opposition parties could boycott the next national elections, "Opposition Parties Threaten to Boycott Next Year ‘s Elections" (The Cambodia Daily, September 26), caused various reactions from civil society.

Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, said that a boycott by the opposition parties would have a negative effect on the elections, and that "even the CPP would get a less credible result." In fact, any election in 2013 without the participation of the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party – which are merging under the banner of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) – would be meaningless.

Cambodia’s political landscape has dramatically changed over the past few months. There are now only two competing political blocks: the ruling CPP and the opposition CNRP. No other party is likely to get any representation at the National Assembly at the upcoming polls. If we translate the plummeting votes they obtained at the June commune elections into National Assembly seats, the two small royalist parties aligned with the CPP – Funcinpec and the Norodom Ranariddh Party – stand to lose the four parliamentary seats (out of 123) they now have.

This leaves only the CPP and the CNRP. There can't be a two-party race if the two parties don't take part.

The CPP’s inevitable landslide victory in the event of a boycott would be just as meaningless as that achieved on September 23 by the ruling party in Belarus.

The communist-type government there left the democratic opposition with no option but to boycott the elections after it imprisoned opposing politicians and created criminal records to prevent others from standing.

Sam Rainsy

SRP and CNRP President

Paris