After leaving the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) headquarters to register to vote yesterday, acting party president Kem Sokha returned to the building he has spent more than four months confined in to continue waiting for “a better political atmosphere.”
Mr. Sokha’s 30-minute jaunt to a voter registration office was a brief respite for the acting opposition leader, who has been under de facto house arrest since May when police attempted to arrest him for ignoring multiple court summonses.
But his confinement has not stopped him from calling for a peaceful resolution to the very political tensions that put him in his current position.
At 10am yesterday, Mr. Sokha left the CNRP headquarters by car with party officials and journalists in tow and went to a partially flooded voter registration center in Chak Angre Leu commune.
When he returned to the CNRP offices, he held a press conference calling for peaceful and nonviolent solutions to the country’s issues and a reduction of tension between the ruling party and the opposition.
“The solutions for achieving an atmosphere of normality and equality in the political environment is what we want for all political parties so they can all vote in free and fair [elections]. The most important thing is that citizens can make decisions freely and accurately,” he said.
Mr. Sokha added that his confinement was part of an advocacy campaign to demand a political solution to disputes between the CNRP and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).
“In any way that he [Prime Minister Hun Sen] could do it to bring back political solutions for free and fair elections in order to reflect citizen’s willingness, then the party must go for it,” he said.
The speech came after a statement from the premier saying political infighting between the two parties would stop during the Pchum Ben holiday and after a number of foreign nations excoriated the government and demanded they ensure the protection of opposition party members and civil society in Cambodia.
Much of the political calm has hinged on the CNRP’s decision to rejoin the National Assembly’s plenary sessions, which they have boycotted since the attempted arrest of Mr. Sokha in May.
But party officials were still unsure of whether they would join the first session on Friday, according to party spokesman Yem Ponhearith.
“We may [join] because the head of the government claimed that the solution is in the assembly, so we may join on the 7th but we are still unsure now. Mr. Sokha is considering joining too. I think if we meet, we can talk. This is a positive start,” he said.
Mr. Ponhearith added that Mr. Sokha would stay at the party headquarters until the political atmosphere fully normalizes, which would then allow him to continue election campaigning in the provinces.
CPP spokesman Sok Eysan was less optimistic about the potential for any deals or a normalization in political dialogue between the two parties, criticizing the CNRP for conflating attending assembly meetings – which he says they are required to do anyway – and negotiations on separate matters.
“This is their responsibility as politicians to join the plenary session and work. So far, the CPP position is the same. We will not negotiate to pardon any perpetrators,” he said.
The ruling party has given Mr. Sokha one month to appeal his September conviction, after which they say he would be arrested. But Mr. Sokha’s defense lawyers yesterday filed an appeal against the municipal court verdict that sentenced him to five months in prison and fined him eight million riel.
Lawyer Sam Sokong added that Mr. Sokha could not be arrested until the Appeal Court decision was released.
“The Appeal Court has the right to investigate the case in a reasonable time and we lawyers believe that if the court is independent, the conviction will be dismissed,” he said.
Meanwhile, Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesman Ly Sophana said the alleged mistress at the center of Mr. Sokha’s legal issues – Khom Chandaraty – appeared in court yesterday as a witness in the case against four Adhoc officials and one National Election Committee (NEC)member, who she accuses of attempting to bribe her in exchange for denying that she had a sexual relationship with Mr. Sokha.
Ms. Chandaraty sought assistance from NGOs after audio tapes of intimate conversations – allegedly between her and Mr. Sokha – were posted online and police asked to interview her.
Initially, she denied the female voice on the tapes was hers and that she had any relationship with Mr. Sokha other than being his hairdresser. But later, she admitted it was her voice and claimed that the NGO staff she had sought help from told her to lie to police about the tapes.
As a result, the four Adhoc officials were charged with bribery of a witness and one NEC member was charged with conspiracy to bribe a witness.
Ms. Chandaraty is also suing Mr. Sokha and the conviction handed down to him last month is due to his refusal to appear for questioning in the case.
