Cambodian opposition leader pardoned ahead of election

AFP/Phnom Penh

Cambodia’s fugitive opposition leader won a royal pardon yesterday, vowing to return to help fight strongman premier Hun Sen who is seeking to extend his 28-year grip on power in elections this month.

Sam Rainsy, who lives in France, had faced 11 years in jail after he was convicted in absentia for charges that he contends were politically motivated, including publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam.

“All of his convictions are clear now. He is a free man, he is welcome back home and he can come back anytime,” cabinet spokesman Phay Siphan said.

The pardon was requested by Prime Minister Hun Sen “in the spirit of reconciliation”, he added.

Rainsy, who wrote to King Sihamoni in June requesting a pardon, said yesterday that he would return “in the next few days” to campaign for his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

“It is a small victory for democracy that the leader of the opposition be allowed to be in the country during election campaigning and on election day,” the 64-year-old said by telephone from France.

Rainsy said the pardon showed that “Cambodia is moving in the right direction” but warned that “much more remains to be done”.

He said he planned to join his party on the campaign trail ahead of the July 28 polls but added that “another political decision” was needed to allow him to stand as a candidate himself.

Rainsy has been removed from the electoral register and as a result “cannot run as a candidate in the election,” said Tep Nytha, secretary general of the National Election Commission.

“We cannot do anything for him,” he said, adding that a parliamentary amendment to the law would be required to allow Rainsy to stand.

Rainsy’s supporters took to the streets of the capital Phnom Penh, waving party flags and chanting slogans to celebrate his imminent return.

Hun Sen is widely expected to win a majority in this month’s polls. In May he said he would try to stay in power for another decade, until he is 74. He had previously vowed to hold office until he reached 90. In his letter to the king requesting the pardon, a copy of which was seen by AFP, Hun Sen said a pardon would allow elections “to be conducted according to democratic principles”.

US lawmakers have called for the US to cut off aid to Cambodia unless the vote is free.

US Embassy spokesman Sean J McIntosh said that the US welcomed the news of the pardon and called on the Cambodian government “to facilitate a safe environment for Sam Rainsy’s return”.

“Free and fair elections require a level-playing field and the unfettered participation of opposition parties,” he said.

US President Barack Obama, during a visit to Cambodia in November to attend an East Asia Summit, pressed Hun Sen on human rights and democracy in a meeting that the White House described as tense.

Hun Sen is one of Southeast Asia’s longest-serving leaders and has steered the impoverished country from the ashes of civil war and overseen a growing economy through development, tourism, and garment exports.

But his government is regularly accused of suppressing political freedoms and muzzling activists.

Cambodia briefly banned foreign-produced radio broadcasts ahead of the election.

While all political parties are free to canvass voters and hold public events, observers say there is little chance of unseating Hun Sen and his Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which won the last two polls by a landslide amid allegations of fraud and election irregularities.

Kem Sokha, acting president of the CNRP, is facing a defamation lawsuit filed by survivors of the Khmer Rouge’s notorious Tuol Sleng torture prison, after he allegedly said the jail was a Vietnamese fabrication.

The CNRP have denounced the move as part of a smear campaign ahead of the election.