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BREAKING NEWS: PM Does Not Accept Son Chhay’s Apology

  • Posted Feb 28, 2023 09:03 by Hun Sirivadh
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PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is also the President of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), has announced that he will not accept apologies from Candlelight Party Vice-President, Son Chhay, because he does not want the CPP to face the same accusations again.

Prime Minister Hun Sen sent a message through his Telegram Channel on Tuesday, 28 February 2023, sharing the apology letter written by Son Chhay, dated 13 February, where the opposition party member writes that he had not intended to accuse the CPP of stealing votes.

"I, Son Chhay, never had the intention of accusing the CPP or the National Election Committee (NEC) of ballot [rigging] and do not intend to accuse the CPP of being vote thieves in the future also,” wrote Son Chhay. “If the CPP or the National Election Committee (NEC) believes the interview that I did accuses them of [rigging the ballot], I apologize.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen has stated that he does not accept this apology, calling it unacceptable because he wants to end the culture of insulting the CPP altogether.

"We can't accept [the accusation] that we stole the ballot, we have received apologies many times, but the same thing still happens again,” said the Prime Minister. “To end the same thing [from happening again], we want to end this culture and have them apologize in court so that the bad guys understand.”

“Sam Rainsy once apologized to me, but in the end it happened again. Those who support [a culture of insult] are all the same, what we must do is use the law to end this recurrence."

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court announced on 7 October 2022 that Son Chhay must pay a fine of 9 million riel (about US $2,000) and apologize to the NEC within two months.

In addition, the court also ordered Son Chhay to pay 3 billion riel (about US $750,000) in compensation to the CPP, and an additional 8 million riel to the state.

In August 2022, both the CPP and the NEC decided to file a complaint against opposition party official, Son Chhay, for an interview he did with the Cambodia Daily alleging that the Sangkat/Commune election involved intimidation and vote buying, as well as for using a metaphor to describe the CPP as ‘thieves’.


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