Updated 30 July 2013, 14:19 AEST
Radio Australia
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party says the evidence will be presented tomorrow, Wednesday.
While official results have not been released, the ruling Cambodian People's Party says it has secured 68 of parliament's 123 seats.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Tioulong Saumura, newly-elected MP, Cambodia National Rescue Party and wife of opposition leader Sam Rainsy
SAUMURA: We are gathering evidence of massive electoral fraud that occurred on the 28th of July, and we're going to produce them tomorrow.
LAM: Can you elaborate .. what evidence do you have to back up your claims of electoral fraud?
SAUMURA: The first irregularity was the huge number of people who have not been able to go and vote. Either their names were deleted unduly from the voter lists, or there was a minor misspelling or typo, about one of their characteristics, such as date of birth, or misspelling of their name, or their gender, or something like that. So, exactly like what your correspondent reported - the violent incident that occurred was triggered by angry people who had all the documents that were necessary to vote, but who were barred from voting, because of one of those minor issues. So, we know there're massive (many) people who were not able to vote, even though they had all the proper documentation. And the difference in the preliminary results that have been published by the Elections Commission, between the ruling party and our results, is minimal. We have only difference of 200-thousand votes, out of a total number of potential voters of almost one million. So we challenge the advance, or the lead of the ruling party.
LAM: And you've asked for a United Nations-backed investigation.. what exactly do you have in mind, what do you expect the UN to do?
SAUMURA: A few months ago, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia, Professor Surya Subedi, issued a report, with eighteen points or recommendations on how to overhaul the electoral process, a mature democratic one. None of these eighteen recommendations made by the UN have been addressed or even analysed by the ruling party. So they conducted the 28th July elections exactly in the same way, in the same undemocratic, unfair, un-transparent way, as they did in preceding years.
But this year, the reaction of voters as reported by the correspondents was different. Because this year, the population did not accept this fraud; did not accept to be deprived of their right to vote.
LAM: And Madam Saumura, many Cambodians are saying that fifty-five seats in parliament is a very good result for the opposition indeed. So, why not go ahead and fulfil your mandate, to keep the government of Hun Sen accountable in parliament, instead of mounting of this challenge?
SAUMURA: For two reasons.
The first reason is that we want on a matter of principle, we want to do in this country, a new habit. The habit of holding democratic elections, and not fraudulent elections. It is a matter of principle - whatever the number of seats we get is not that important - what we want is to have clean elections, because the electoral process is one the basic foundations of a true democracy.
The second reason is because, we've gone up from 29 seats to 55 seats through the desire of the Cambodian people for change, so we cannot betray this desire for change. And I salute, I admire the spirit of my compatriots who have sought on the 28th of July, sometimes with violence, but most of the time with a lot of maturity, to get their voice heard. We have heard their voice and we will continue the fight for a clean electoral system. Only with a clean electoral system can we then fulfil our mandate and bring about this change that the people are dying for.
LAM: And briefly, Madam Saumura, your husband Sam Rainsy is the opposition leader, but he returned to Cambodia too late to register for the elections. Will he continue to be the leader of the CNRP?
SAUMURA: Titles are not important. Sam Rainsy has been an ordinary citizen, on and off, for very long, since he was first expelled from the national assembly, unconstitutionally, in 1995. And an ordinary citizen can have a lot of influence and can do a lot of things for his or her country.
While official results have not been released, the ruling Cambodian People's Party says it has secured 68 of parliament's 123 seats.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Tioulong Saumura, newly-elected MP, Cambodia National Rescue Party and wife of opposition leader Sam Rainsy
SAUMURA: We are gathering evidence of massive electoral fraud that occurred on the 28th of July, and we're going to produce them tomorrow.
LAM: Can you elaborate .. what evidence do you have to back up your claims of electoral fraud?
SAUMURA: The first irregularity was the huge number of people who have not been able to go and vote. Either their names were deleted unduly from the voter lists, or there was a minor misspelling or typo, about one of their characteristics, such as date of birth, or misspelling of their name, or their gender, or something like that. So, exactly like what your correspondent reported - the violent incident that occurred was triggered by angry people who had all the documents that were necessary to vote, but who were barred from voting, because of one of those minor issues. So, we know there're massive (many) people who were not able to vote, even though they had all the proper documentation. And the difference in the preliminary results that have been published by the Elections Commission, between the ruling party and our results, is minimal. We have only difference of 200-thousand votes, out of a total number of potential voters of almost one million. So we challenge the advance, or the lead of the ruling party.
LAM: And you've asked for a United Nations-backed investigation.. what exactly do you have in mind, what do you expect the UN to do?
SAUMURA: A few months ago, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia, Professor Surya Subedi, issued a report, with eighteen points or recommendations on how to overhaul the electoral process, a mature democratic one. None of these eighteen recommendations made by the UN have been addressed or even analysed by the ruling party. So they conducted the 28th July elections exactly in the same way, in the same undemocratic, unfair, un-transparent way, as they did in preceding years.
But this year, the reaction of voters as reported by the correspondents was different. Because this year, the population did not accept this fraud; did not accept to be deprived of their right to vote.
LAM: And Madam Saumura, many Cambodians are saying that fifty-five seats in parliament is a very good result for the opposition indeed. So, why not go ahead and fulfil your mandate, to keep the government of Hun Sen accountable in parliament, instead of mounting of this challenge?
SAUMURA: For two reasons.
The first reason is that we want on a matter of principle, we want to do in this country, a new habit. The habit of holding democratic elections, and not fraudulent elections. It is a matter of principle - whatever the number of seats we get is not that important - what we want is to have clean elections, because the electoral process is one the basic foundations of a true democracy.
The second reason is because, we've gone up from 29 seats to 55 seats through the desire of the Cambodian people for change, so we cannot betray this desire for change. And I salute, I admire the spirit of my compatriots who have sought on the 28th of July, sometimes with violence, but most of the time with a lot of maturity, to get their voice heard. We have heard their voice and we will continue the fight for a clean electoral system. Only with a clean electoral system can we then fulfil our mandate and bring about this change that the people are dying for.
LAM: And briefly, Madam Saumura, your husband Sam Rainsy is the opposition leader, but he returned to Cambodia too late to register for the elections. Will he continue to be the leader of the CNRP?
SAUMURA: Titles are not important. Sam Rainsy has been an ordinary citizen, on and off, for very long, since he was first expelled from the national assembly, unconstitutionally, in 1995. And an ordinary citizen can have a lot of influence and can do a lot of things for his or her country.
0 comments:
Post a Comment