Rainsy, Sokha May Lose Voting Rights

[geovalin]

Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) president Sam Rainsy and his deputy Kem Sokha are both facing legal troubles ahead of the next elections in 2017 and 2018, and the National Election Committee (NEC) said on Friday that both men may be barred from voting and standing as candidates. You are not allowed to vote or be a candidate in Cambodia if you have been convicted of a crime.
 

Sik Bunhok, the president of the NEC, said Mr. Rainsy is prohibited from registering to vote and leading the CNRP during the election because of the defamation conviction on his record, and Mr. Sokha faces a similar fate if he is ever charged and convicted of a crime. Voter registration starts on September 1, but senior CNRP official Son Chhay said he was optimistic that a political resolution allowing Mr. Rainsy back into the country could be agreed upon before the next election.
 

Yet the court cases against Mr. Rainsy continue to pile up. Yesterday, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court rejected another attempt by Mr. Rainsy to attend his court hearings through teleconferencing software, leaving the CNRP president with few options left to contest the bevy of court cases filed against him. Mr. Rainsy, now in self-imposed exile in France, said in a Facebook post yesterday that he should be allowed to attend the court hearings for the defamation complaint filed against him recently by Prime Minister Hun Sen through video software because the method is used by the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

 

read more http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28474/rainsy--sokha-may-lose-voting-rights/

[xineohp]

This is just another fine example of the lengths the former Khmer Rouge murderous despot Hun Sen will go to to maintain his grip on power.  With China's backing anything Hun Sen does will be legitimised.