A Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) candidate on Sunday boycotted a political debate in Kandal province because a group of audience-members purporting to be CNRP supporters had allegedly planned to sabotage the debate by staging a defection to the ruling CPP.
Ou Chanrith turned up at the packed pagoda in Sithor commune intending to participate in the debate, he said, but after learning of the intended disruption walked out, leaving the stage to CPP parliamentary candidate Aun Porn Moniroth and Meas Chhayana from the Funcinpec Party.
“I decided to boycott the event because it was a set-up to disturb the forum in front of television news cameras,” Mr. Chanrith said, alleging that a group of CPP supporters had been paid to dress in CNRP election gear and stand up at some point during the debate to announce their defections to the CPP.
“The group was hired to switch their clothes. We spoke with some of them and they said they had been paid 30,000 riel [about $7.50] to disrupt the meeting and were given CNRP T-shirts and caps,” Mr. Chanrith alleged.
Laura Thornton, senior director of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), which organized the debate, said that Mr. Chanrith absconded the event—which drew a crowd of about 5,000 people and was broadcast live via radio—after NDI refused to either eject the group or force them to remove their CNRP clothing.
“NDI cannot ask anyone to leave our debates unless they violate the code of conduct or break the law. NDI could not, therefore, take action against people in Kandal based on allegations from the CNRP candidate about what he thought they might do,” Ms. Thornton said.
“Participants have the freedom to wear whatever clothes they choose, including T-shirts with party logos—whether or not they are true supporters of the party is irrelevant,” she added.
Ms. Thornton also said that Mr. Chanrith’s subsequent decision to boycott the pre-election was a “massive miscalculation” and a “missed opportunity” for the CNRP.
However, Mr. Chanrith said afterward that the risks of going ahead with the debate and broadcasting the false but highly damaging defection outweighed the potential benefits for the CNRP.
“We wouldn’t have gained anything from this,” he said. “Yes indeed, it would be broadcast to millions, and we do not have the media access to counteract before the election the powerful image of CNRP supporters defecting to the CPP,” he said.
But with the debate continuing in the CNRP’s absence, any critical questioning of the ruling CPP and Funcinpec—who are coalition partners—was left to the largely CPP-supporting audience.
One elderly woman asked Mr. Moniroth to explain the CPP’s habit of bringing gifts to villagers when election time comes around, which hushed the crowd and provoked some hard stares in her direction.
“The spirit of the CPP is the spirit of helping each other and sharing, meaning the rich help those who are poor,” Mr. Moniroth countered, adding that gift-giving is a Cambodian tradition and “not a bad thing.”
