Cambodian PM appears at public event for first time after Sunday's poll

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday visited the construction site of a bridge here, ending rumors that he resigned and left the country after the Sunday's poll. "Recently, there are rumors that I have resigned and left the country and today, there is a rumor that the army forced me to step down and transfer power to deputy prime minister Sok An," Hun Sen told reporters at the construction site. "I want to inform the public that I am now in Cambodia and is holding the power as the prime minister of Cambodia in the fourth legislature of the government," he said. "No one has the right to force the incumbent prime minister to step down, it is against the constitution." According to the initial unofficial results of Sunday's poll, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Hun Sen won the election with 68 parliamentary seats and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) got the remaining 55 seats. The leaders of CNRP said Wednesday that they did not recognize the results, claiming widespread fraud. "We don't agree to accept the failure in the poll, we have to win," Kem Sokha, CNRP's vice president, told hundreds of supporters rallied at the party's headquarters in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. "The election had a lot of irregularities and ballot- rigging." CNRP President Sam Rainsy claimed that about 1.3 million voters were unable to vote because their names were not on the voter lists. "If those people had voted for the CNRP, we would win easily because the ruling CPP won us only 200,000 votes on Sunday's election," he said. Rainsy also claimed that there were about 1 million ghost names on the voter lists and about 200,000 duplicate names. "These are the irregularities. The CNRP has to find justice for the Cambodian people," he said, calling on Prime Minister Hun Sen to step down. On Tuesday, Rainsy officially submitted a request to the National Election Committee (NEC) to demand for the establishment of a joint committee to investigate irregularities during the election. He has also threatened to stage a nationwide protest against the poll results if a joint committee is not established to look into the irregularity allegations. The date of the protest has not been set yet. The NEC has not replied to Rainsy's request so far. Incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power for 28 years, will stretch his power for further five years through Sunday's victory. His party issued on statement on Tuesday, saying that "the CPP won absolute majority seats in Sunday's poll so that the party could establish a new government in accordance with the constitution and Hun Sen will continue to serve as the prime minister in the fifth term government." However, there will still be a challenge for the CPP to form a new government if the opposition boycotts the first session of the new National Assembly. According to Cambodia's constitution, a quorum of at least 120 out of 123 lawmakers is needed in parliament to approve a new cabinet. The first session of the new National Assembly shall be convened no later than 60 days after the election, according to the constitution.