Opposition party leader Sam Rainsy claimed on Sunday that hundreds of former Funcinpec and CPP supporters in Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district have joined his party.
The new members are from three communes in the district and are mostly former Funcinpec members, the opposition leader said. In Chhlaing commune, 490 Funcinpec supporters and 150 CPP supporters switched, while in Phnom Bat and Tum Nop Thom communes 400 Funcinpec members defected, he said.
Phnom Bat commune resident Sam Sann voted for Funcinpec in the 1993 and 1998 national elections. He said by telephone Sunday that the villagers hope to find justice with the Sam Rainsy Party.
Nhim Kim Nhol, deputy director general of the Economic Police Department in the Ministry of Interior, joined the Sam Rainsy Party two months ago.
He said he has been suspended with pay since 1999 for trying to do his job honestly.
His attempts to crack down on drug smuggling and illegal logging led to clashes with CPP higher-ups, he said.
“I am so glad I joined the Sam Rainsy Party,” he said.
“My ideas are the same as the Sam Rainsy Party’s principles. I will work for [the party] unconditionally.”
Sam Rainsy claimed last month that Funcinpec parliamentarian Princess Norodom Vacheara had agreed to join the Sam Rainsy Party when the two met in Paris.
Princess Vacheara later said she had refused Sam Rainsy’s offer, which included a promise to make her an opposition parliamentarian candidate from Kandal province in next July’s elections.
