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Cambodia's exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Tuesday he is still confident of returning
to Cambodia to participate in national elections in July, even though the government has
disqualified him from standing or voting in the polls and has vowed to arrest and jail him if he returns.
He said that international pressure on the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen over the vote's
legitimacy if he cannot stand in elections could convince the authorities to allow him back to the
country.
Sam Rainsy, who is head of the united opposition coalition National Rescue Party (NRP) and currently
lives in Paris, faces up to 11 years in prison in Cambodia on charges he says were part of a campaign of
political persecution against him.
Sam Rainsy said that the opposition could give Hun Sen's Cambodian People’s Party
(CPP) a run for its money following the recent merger between his erstwhile Sam Rainsy Party
and another leading group, the Human Rights Party.
Speaking to RFA's Khmer Service from Finland, where he met with senior officials, Sam Rainsy said
that international pressure on the Cambodian government is mounting for his
return and expressed confidence that the political environment will change ahead
of the July 28 elections.
"We have seven months to go, and experience has shown that the political environment changes all the
time. All I know now is I will be in Cambodia for the election," he said.
The country’s National Election Committee (NEC), which critics say lacks independence from the
ruling party, had removed Sam Rainsy as a voter and disallowed him from standing as a candidate in
the elections in a ruling in November.
It reaffirmed its position last week, saying that his conviction for crimes that included destroying
border markers near Vietnam in 2009 make him ineligible to vote or to run for office.
U.S. disappointed
The United States criticized the decision on Friday, saying it calls into question the vote’s legitimacy.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that Washington was disappointed by the NEC's
disqualification of Sam Rainsy based on criminal convictions.
"We are disappointed in the Cambodian National Election Committee’s
announcement recently, again reiterating that Sam Rainsy was removed from the
official voter list for the July 2013 elections due to criminal convictions, which
credible observers believe have been politically motivated,” she said.
Free and fair elections “require a level playing field and unfettered participation of opposition parties,”
she said. “So the exclusion of a leading opposition leader calls into question the legitimacy of the whole
democratic process in Cambodia.”
But as National Rescue Party President, Sam Rainsey declared this week that he would be able to
return to Cambodia due to international pressure ahead of the National Election July 28.
"Actually, as president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party representing the
united democratic opposition, I am the only serious challenger to Mr. Hun Sen for
premiership," Sam Rainsy said.
He said the opposition's chances in the coming elections are good, basing his forecast on local
elections last June in which he said the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party collected a total
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