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Cambodia strongman Hun Sen swears to die if vote numbers inflated
PHNOM PENH, Aug 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Cambodia’s strongman Premier Hun Sen
Monday rejected claims the results from last month’s widely criticised
election had been falsified, saying he would stake his life on their
accuracy.
Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party claimed it won all 125 parliamentary
seats in the deeply flawed July 29 poll, cementing the country as a one-party
state and extending his 33-year grip on power.
Opposition figures had called for a boycott of the vote after the main
opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved last year in a
crackdown that saw one of its leaders charged with treason.
Turnout was a whopping 82 percent, leading Hun Sen to dismiss the
campaign to shun ballot boxes as a failure. But independent observers did not
take part and rights groups pointed to voter intimidation.
In a speech to athletes in Phnom Penh, the bombastic Hun Sen, 66, denied
“vote cheating (and) inflating figures” of turnout. He dared opposition
leaders to join him and swear on their lives over the claims.
“I swear to die from all forms…to die in a car accident, a plane
crash, an electrocution, a lightning strike, anything that leads to death,”
he said. “Do you dare to swear or not?”
“Those who have alleged the figure (of turnout) was inflated, please
swear. Swear to die all together,” he added.
Some 6.9 million votes were cast in the national election. But nearly
600,000 ballots were spoilt in a sign of resistance to a vote which
opposition members called a “sham” and “false.”
The United States threatened to broaden visa restrictions on senior
Cambodian officials, while Sam Rainsy, the self-exiled co-founder of the
disbanded opposition described it as a “terrible setback”.
The European Union also condemned the election, while China
congratulated the people of Cambodia.
In response to Hun Sen’s challenge Rainsy said on his Facebook page that
he would take the oath if there was an official recount.
He urged the National Election Committee not to destroy ballots
collected from polling stations and claimed turnout was less than 50 percent.
The NEC is a theoretically impartial body but is widely believed to have
links to the ruling party.
The CNRP took 44 percent of the vote in the previous election in 2013,
mounting the most credible challenge to Hun Sen in decades. It performed
equally well in 2017 local polls.
BSS/AFP/RY/1625 hrs