Cambodia’s former opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, called on Sunday for Cambodians to boycott a general election set for July 29 if his dissolved party isn’t allowed to take part. The party had not previously called for a boycott and it was not immediately clear if Sam Rainsy was speaking on behalf of the party. Sok Eysan, a spokesman for Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, said Sam Rainsy’s call would have no impact. “Everybody can have their own idea what is free and fair, but free is free and fair is fair,” Norio Maruyama, a Japanese Foreign Affairs spokesman, told a news briefing. A former deputy president of the CNRP, Mu Sochua, said Cambodians expected Japan not to recognise any government that emerged from a “sham election”.

Source: Egypt Independent April 08, 2018 12:22 UTC