CPP Joined By 2,000-Plus In Motorcade

There was little mistaking the allegiances of the more than 2,000 people who turned out to join a CPP motorcade in the capital Saturday morning.

“I will vote for the CPP because I like their policies and they al­ways stand by the Cambodian people,” said 39-year-old Peng Vannak, at the party’s Kandal province headquarters, where the parade began.

“I especially like Second Prime Minister Hun Sen,” he said. “I have supported him since 1979.”

The supporters from Phnom Penh and surrounding provinces spoke with similar conviction. Witnesses counted more than 50 trucks filled with people.

“My family and I are still alive because of the CPP,” said Soth Pisey, a 26-year-old student at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. “The good things they have done for the country easily outweigh the bad, particularly, liberating Anlong Veng from the Khmer Rouge.”

This was a theme picked up by banners waved by supporters on neighboring trucks

Soth Pisey was one of the many who sported the uniform CPP cap and T-shirt. On board the campaign vehicles, few wore anything else, and supporters passed more out into the crowd, along with campaign posters and leaflets. Some, though, stood unenthusiastically.

Among those who gathered to watch on the streets, a cap and T-shirt did not necessarily denote allegiance. A 25-year-old bystan­der, who asked not to be named, said, “I want to vote for the CPP if they keep the country safe until election day. But I don’t know who to trust because every party lies now to get power. I cannot be clear which one is best for me.”

An elderly woman named Chan watched the convoy pass on Sothearos Blvd but would not reveal what party she will vote for.

“I can say only that I will vote for one of the three main parties but I will not even tell my son which one because I am scared,” she said. “The Cambodian people have many eyes so I hope they can see to choose the best lead­er.”

 

 

 

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