Rainsy accuses HRP of trying to ‘break’ SRP

April 20, 2011
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

OPPOSITION leader Sam Rainsy has accused the Human Rights Party of trying to “break” his own Sam Rainsy Party and steal its members, even as the two parties remain in talks about a potential merger.

In a letter dated Monday, HRP president Kem Sokha wrote to Sam Rainsy to inquire about the terms of such a merger, which has been under discussion for months. Kem Sokha asked whether Sam Rainsy supported an option entailing the merger of the HRP and SRP under a new banner, or a second option in which the SRP would subsume the HRP.

“We support the first option and see that this is an opportunity for a union of patriots and democrats to arrange a democratic movement for change,” Kem Sokha wrote.

In response, however, Sam Rainsy wrote in a letter to his own supporters that the HRP was using the same “tricks” employed by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party to undermine the SRP and induce defections.