The Council of Ministers’ Press and Quick Reaction Unit on Friday released a scathing, official “white paper” on the opposition party’s conduct in the lead-up to, during and after the hotly contested July 28 national election, accusing it of trying to destabilize the country to suit its political agenda.
Reaction Unit spokesman Keo Remy said the opposition CNRP had long planned to reject the election results and that its accusations against the ruling CPP—of being complicit in a fraudulent election, the results of which did not reflect the true winner—were baseless.
“We think that the election process was transparent, free and fair; there was no violence and chaos during the election,” Mr. Remy said.
“The Cambodia National Rescue Party’s supporters are restless and the Cambodian People’s Party’s supporters are calm,” he added. “They said that we stole votes, but that’s stupid, because we went from 90 seats to 68 seats. If we stole votes, they would have increased to 92 or 93 seats.”
The document makes a list of the “maneuvers and tricks” the CNRP used to reject the results of the election, including “fomenting racism and xenophobia” and “discrediting voter registration procedures.”
It also reasons that mass demonstrations called for by party leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha indicate that there is discord within the party.
“However, all attempts by Mr. Sam Rainsy and Mr. Kem Sokha have failed and therefore the two leaders are becoming ever more desperate and hopeless,” the paper states.
“Sam Rainsy knew that 2013 was the last opportunity for him to realize his dream of becoming Prime Minister. With such failure, the momentum generated by the uniting of the two opposition parties won’t last another five years. This new party will split having failed in their joint political battle, especially when their differences in terms of political and/or economic interests grow wider and wider in the future.”
CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said the Reaction Unit failed to realize that the party has more popular support than the CPP.
“The U.N. and other countries’ newspapers…spoke with one voice like the CNRP” regarding election irregularities, he said. “And so if they spoke the same, that is the voice of justice. The CPP should understand that if everyone speaks with the same voice like this, that means the CPP is a minority in the society.”
Investigations into the result of the election by the CPP-stacked National Election Committee and the Constitutional Council supported a win by the ruling party, and the opposition now plans to boycott the opening of the fifth mandate of the National Assembly on Monday.
Mr. Remy, however, said Monday’s inaugural session of parliament would be a “smooth process” that nothing could disturb.
