Cambodian Constitutional Council rejects all opposition's election complaints

Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-9-6 17:55:42

Cambodia's Constitutional Council, the final arbiter for resolving election complaints, on Friday rejected all complaints filed by the opposition party against the July 28 election in which Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party won a majority of vote.

"We rejected all the 15 complaints submitted by the opposition against the poll results because the opposition had provided little evidence to support its claims of irregularities in voter lists and ballot-rigging," Prom Nhean Vichit, a member of the nine- member Constitutional Council, told Xinhua after the council had spent 17 days to discuss and resolve those complaints.

Initial election results showed that the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen won the poll with 68 of the 123 parliamentary seats, and the Cambodia National Rescue Party ( CNRP) of long-time opposition leader Sam Rainsy took the remaining 55 seats.

But the CNRP claimed that it should win 63 seats, with the CPP getting the remaining 60 seats if alleged poll irregularities were fairly resolved.

The party announced to stage a mass protest on Saturday against the election results, which are scheduled to be officially released on Sunday.

"We are ready to hold a mass nonviolent demonstration in the morning of Saturday at the capital's Freedom Park," Mu Sochua, CNRP's senior official, told a press conference on Friday. "At least 20,000 people will join the protest at the Park--there is no marching."

Security has been tightened around the capital in recent days. Kheng Tito, spokesman for the National Military Police, said Friday that tens of thousands of security forces would be used to ensure security and public order for upcoming peaceful protesters.

"Peaceful demonstration will be protected. But if they incite violence, they will face crackdowns," he told Xinhua.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has said that a new parliament and a new government would be established as scheduled despite the opposition's boycott.

According to the constitution, he said, a new government would be formed by a 50 percent plus one majority, or 63 lawmakers, in the new parliament.

Under the country's constitution, a new parliament will be inaugurated no later than 60 days after the election.

Posted in: Asia-Pacific

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