Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, centre, speaks to workers as he inspects a bridge construction site in Phnom Penh yesterday.
Reuters/Phnom Penh
Cambodia’s long-serving leader, Hun Sen, said yesterday his party was ready to talk to the opposition after both sides claimed victory in Sunday’s general election, talking of the need for compromise but calling himself “prime minister elect”.
“We open our heart to compromise in order to create a parliamentary leadership,” Hun Sen said while on an inspection of a bridge construction site, his first public appearance since the election and his first comments on the deadlock.
“We have to respect the people’s decision and if we don’t, and turn to violence ... that would lead to chaos in the whole country and this is not what people want to see,” he said.
The election campaign and voting on Sunday were largely peaceful but Phnom Penh remains tense because of the political stand-off. Police and the military are maintaining a presence on the streets, although business is mostly back to normal.
Hun Sen, 60, has been prime minister for 28 years and has crushed dissent in the past while maintaining tight control through his Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and a network of business, government and military allies.
Earlier yesterday, the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), said it had won the general election, stepping up its battle with Hun Sen’s CPP, which has also claimed victory and rejected accusations of electoral fraud.
Yim Sovann, a lawmaker and spokesman for the CNRP, said it had won 63 seats in the 123-member parliament, with the CPP getting 60.
“This is according to figures of votes we collected from various provinces and this needs to be investigated,” he said.
The government announced on Sunday that the CPP had won 68 seats, a sharp fall from its previous tally of 90 but beating what it said was the CNRP’s 55.
The national election committee (NEC) has yet to release official results and says it does not expect to do until mid-August.
