Ieng Sary’s Democratic National Union Movement in Pailin has appealed to King Norodom Sihanouk not to follow through with his threat to abdicate.
The Tuesday statement, signed by Ieng Sary and nine other DNUM officials, including five senior Khmer Rouge technocrats who defected in June, warned that only the King could return political stability to the nation.
“We all suggest that if you abdicate, our country will fall into a political and constitutional crisis that cannot be solved,” said the statement, forwarded by fax from the King’s Cabinet.
The King, who chaired three days of meetings between the three main political parties and the National Election Committee and Constitutional Council over the weekend, threatened on Sunday to abdicate if no agreement is reached this month.
DNUM said the King’s presence in Cambodia during the July 26 polls had ensured the election was conducted “freely, correctly and justly.”
