Cambodian opposition rallies wrap up

Cambodian opposition supporters wrapped up protests against what they claim was a rigged election. Source: AAP

ABOUT 20,000 Cambodian opposition supporters have wrapped up a three-day demonstration to petition foreign embassies and the United Nations for intervention in what they claim was a rigged election.

While the international community is very unlikely to intervene in Cambodia's domestic affairs, the rallies served to highlight the opposition's demand for an independent probe into the July 28 poll, which it says returned Prime Minister Hun Sen to power illegitimately.

Throngs of cheering demonstrators marched through the capital this week as they delivered petitions to the French, British, US, Australian, Russian, Japanese, Indonesian and Chinese embassies and to the UN human rights office. The rallies ended peacefully.

The Australian embassy said in a statement on Friday that it had received the petition and that its ambassador, Alison Burrows, "urged both parties to continue their dialogue including on electoral reform." Official election results extended Hun Sen's 28-year rule and gave his party 68 seats in parliament, compared to 55 for the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party. The party says it was cheated out of a victory and that it will boycott parliament until the government has met its demands.

According to the petition - which the opposition says was thumb printed by 2 million people - the Cambodian government's failure to investigate election irregularities and its inauguration of the National Assembly without the opposition "take Cambodia back to a one-party system of governance."

The three-day demonstration coincides with the 22nd anniversary of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords on Cambodia, which laid the groundwork for UN-sponsored elections after the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge and years of civil war that followed. The countries that received opposition petitions were all signatories to the 1991 Accords.

The government denies election fraud, and has rejected opposition demands for an independent investigation. It maintains that its inauguration of a new parliament in September was legitimate and has filled parliamentary commissions with ruling party members.

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said that intervention from abroad was "not going to happen." Moreover, he said, seeking outside help was counterproductive to building democracy from within Cambodia.

"By going abroad, you're actually re-confirming this attitude of we need to depend on the UN jumping out of the sky, out of a plane or whatever, to rescue us," he said.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Cambodian opposition rallies wrap up

Dengan url

http://cucidollaran.blogspot.com/2013/10/cambodian-opposition-rallies-wrap-up.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Cambodian opposition rallies wrap up

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Cambodian opposition rallies wrap up

sebagai sumbernya