A Change of Guard

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Thursday 28 February 2008

Rainsy, Ranariddh, Kem Sokha: Unite or Not to Unite, That Is Just the Question

"The Beehive Radio had conducted their survey and the results are surprisingly resounding: 99.5% of voters are for an alliance and unity among the three parties........If these three parties go to the poll with three parties’ names on the ballot paper separately, they have no chance of defeating the CPP and Mr. Hun Sen at all. Zilch."

Editorial by Khmerization:- The question of an opposition alliance has been raised so very often that it is too important for all interested parties to ignore. The reality of the matter is that all of them, in particular, the Sam Rainsy Party, have only one goal: that is to defeat the CPP and Mr. Hun Sen in the upcoming election. If one assumes that this is their real aim, then one has to assume that an alliance of some sort between the three, before the election, is a must. And the voters have said resoundingly so.
The Beehive Radio had conducted their survey and the results are surprisingly resounding: 99.5% of voters are for an alliance and unity among the three parties (read the article below). My own survey posted in this blog (http://Khmerization.blogspot.com) for the last few months had received less encouraging results: only 51% are for an alliance. But one must bear in mind that what is important is the verdict of the voters- and this I mean the results of the Beehive Radio survey. Those respondents are the voters in the upcoming 2008 election who can decide to bring victory or defeat for the opposition.
The case for an alliance is simple: the opposition goes to the election in one voice and one vote. By going to the poll separately these so-called democratic parties will split the opposition votes and will surely give the CPP a solid edge in which to easily steal the election victory.
Mr. Sam rainsy’s resistance and reluctance to form an alliance with Prince Ranariddh is understandable. He had been betrayed, not once, but three times by Prince Ranariddh in the past. The other reason seemed to be that the Sam Rainsy Party had increased popular votes from one election to another. With past electoral successes like that, the Sam Rainsy Party seemed to think that it can defeat the CPP alone and think that to join the other parties would be like sharing half of their cake (election victory) with those parties.
From an observer’s perspective, the case against an alliance is zilch. After all, the opposition’s aim is to achieve the election victory over the CPP and Mr. Hun Sen. They must settle their differences once and for all. Kem Sokha must drop his conditions and his insistence that all parties drop the party president’s name from the party’s name. Sam Rainsy must agree to sit down and work out the solution to form an alliance. If he still resist an opportunity he will be the one who will be the big loser- losing a chance to defeat the CPP and the prime ministership for himself.
From an outsider’s point of view, all the three parties must stash out their selfish political interests just for the sake of their common interests and that of the people‘s and the nation‘s.
The formula of the alliance, just for the sake of defeating the CPP and Mr. Hun Sen, should be like this: All should go the poll under the banner of the Sam Rainsy Party, as there is not enough time to use a different party name to go to the election. It takes time to make the new party’s name known to the voters. Mr. Sam Rainsy should be the PM candidate, Prince Ranariddh should be the Senate president and Kem Sokha should be the candidate for the president of the National Assembly. All the MP candidates and the positions in the new government should be allocated as follow: Sam Rainsy Party 50% and the Norodom Ranariddh Party and the Human Right Party should receive 25% each. This proportion is representative of their electoral success, if each party is to go to the poll individually. By going to the poll in one party’s name , they will maximise the electoral victory as they don’t split the opposition votes.
Let’s hope that an alliance of some sort can be worked out before the election. If these three parties go to the poll with three parties’ names on the ballot paper separately, they have no chance of defeating the CPP and Mr. Hun Sen at all. Zilch. //END//

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Sam Rainsy: Ranariddh too unstable to unite with
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Rasmei Kampuchea
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who just returned from Australia on 26 February, showed a lack of interest in the call issued by Prince Ranariddh who agreed to an election to choose the president of a newly formed party, should Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha agree to unite with him. Sam Rainsy said that Prince Ranariddh’s standing is unstable and this caused difficulties in uniting with him.Sam Rainsy said the SRP permanent committee is currently holding a meeting to reflect on this proposal. “We are collecting information and all the proposals to reflect upon,” Sam Rainsy said. Nevertheless, Sam Rainsy added that the SRP does not pay too much attention to this issue, and the proposal made by the prince is nothing new.While the prince agreed to hold an election to choose the president for the would-be-formed party, should there be a union between the royalists and the democrats, Sam Rainsy is puzzled as to how this election would be held. He asked: “How do we organize it? What will be the rule?” He also said that he does not understand it very well yet.Along with the lack of interest in uniting with the prince, Sam Rainsy believed in the solid strength of his party, he said: “We believe in our own strength. Prince Ranariddh has an unstable standing and we are having difficulties uniting with.” Even though Sam Rainsy showed his faith in the solid strength of the opposition party, the recent defection of high-ranking party officials has caused some concerns in the SRP.However, Sam Rainsy said that he has a good grasp of the party grass root levels which do not pay attention to this issue. He added that the party grass root levels want the party leaders to have a strong standing. The party followers will not vote for any particular individual, but will vote only for the party as a whole.Sam Rainsy is not the only one uninterested in the prince proposal, Kem Sokha, HRP president, also is not paying attention to the request to form a union made by the prince. He even declined to participate in the forum organized by Mam Sonando on 25 February, to survey the intentions of the three parties (SRP, NRP, HRP) to unite with each other.Dr. Pung Chiv Kek, President of the Licadho human rights organization, pointed out the importance of the union which will provide a stronger voice for the opposition. She said that, it is normal that discordance will lead to weakness. However, she cannot predict whether these three parties can unite with each others or not. However, she noted that among these three parties, only the NRP participated in the forum organized by Mam Sonando’s Beehive radio station to discuss about the union, and to answer questions asked by the public.Mam Sonando, Beehive radio station director, who came up with the forum idea, said that he cannot predict whether the 3 parties can unite with each other or not. He is only doing what the public want to see. He said: “For Cambodian politicians, you cannot predict about them. Only when they are about to die that they look for a monk (for a last rite). It’s only when their bodies can no longer accept intravenous injection that they remember the Dharma.”
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To unite, or not to unite: that is the question
Beehive opinion poll: Majority wants to see a union of opposition parties
Monday, February 18, 2008Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A one-month opinion poll conducted by the Beehive radio station indicated that the majority of the population supports the unification among the SRP, the NRP, and the HRP. Mam Sonando, Beehive director, told the Samner Thmey newspaper that his one-month opinion poll ended on Sunday. The poll results indicated that he received 4,400 letters from listeners, and the majority of them support the unification of the SRP, the NRP, and the HRP. Mam Sonando indicated that only 22 letters did not support such union. He added that if the three political parties respect the people’s opinion, they should think about this issue. However, the unification or not depends solely on the will and the strategy adopted by each party, and the opinion poll is an initiative privately conducted by Beehive radio station only. The NRP supports this result also, but the HRP does not support this result, saying that in this opinion poll was conducted mainly among those who support Mam Sonando to start with, the SRP indicated that the unification is already taking place at the grass root levels and it is calling on minor political parties to join the SRP.

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