Cambodia opposition should show 'concrete evidence' for irregularity allegations

Cambodia' s opposition party should present "concrete evidence" to substantiate its allegations that there were serious irregularities during Sunday's general election, a government official said Tuesday. "The opposition should show clear evidence to support its allegations that the poll had serious irregularities," Ouch Borith, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters. "They should have proof, not groundlessly claim," he said. Borith's remarks came after the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) rejected Sunday's election results, claiming serious irregularities. The initial results showed that the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen won 68 parliamentary seats and the CNRP got the remaining 55 seats in Sunday's poll. Hun Sen, who has been in power for 28 years, will extend his power for another five years through the victory. Sam Rainsy, CNRP's president, announced Monday that the party did not accept the election results because there were too many irregularities. He called for the establishment of a joint committee comprising the CPP, the CNRP, the National Election Committee, the United Nations, and local and international NGOs in order to investigate the irregularities. He claimed that about 1.2 million voters were unable to vote because their names were not on the voter lists. Also, there are about 1 million ghost names on the voter lists and 200,000 duplicate names. Borith said that the election has been recognized by national and international observers as fair and the oppositions should accept the reality. "The opposition party should recognize the truth as tens of thousands of national observers and hundreds of foreign monitors have accepted that the election was conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner," he said. National Election Committee said the official election results will be announced in mid-August. According to the constitution, the first session of the new National Assembly will be convened no later than 60 days after the election.