As the Candlelight Party faces an onslaught of lawsuits and violent threats, a party official said they were moving ahead with preparations for the July election, with analysts predicting a bumpy path to the ballot box for the primary opposition threat to Hun Sen.
Provincial heads for the Candlelight Party said they were asked to lower their rhetoric and refrain from personal criticisms of ruling party officials as the party grapples with threats made last week by Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Candlelight Party supporters in Thailand held a small protest against the arrest of party leader Thach Setha but say they were surveilled and asked to end the protest by Thai police.
Friday Women activists who have long protested for the release of their political-prisoner husbands recalled the efforts of a recently deceased member, Som Chanthou.
The Council of Ministers decided to hand over land owned by the Foreign Ministry and occupied by a senior opposition official to the National Election Committee, which said it was facing space constraints at its current headquarters.
The Finance Ministry has been given a sixfold increase in its budget this year that was explained broadly in state documents as a reallocation of unclassified spending, raising concerns over a lack of transparency in national expenditures.
Local-level Candlelight officials say they face regular harassment and discrimination, and are disappointed to see the party’s leaders shirk away from it and instead embrace the ruling party.
Candlelight Party vice president Son Chhay believes the party’s top committee “will not hesitate” to issue an apology to the ruling CPP in the face of angry threats from Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Hun Sen told the Candlelight Party to apologize and stop issuing statements that the ruling CPP threatens it — or face legal action.
The under-pressure Candlelight Party said on Wednesday it would rely on foreign countries to promote fair elections in Cambodia, and it did not consider public demonstrations to be beneficial.
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