CNRP Defector [Ms. Lak Sopheap] To Form New Party

Thursday, 11 June 2015; News by Khmer Times/Ven Rathavong

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CNRP activists confronted Lak Sopheap, a former member of the CNRP steering committee, on Jan. 1, days after she made corruption claims against the party’s top leaders. KT Photo: Ven Rathavong

PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times) – Lak Sopheap, an expelled member of the CNRP’s steering committee, is attempting a political comeback by forming a new party supported by Cambodians based in the United States.

“They [Cambodians in the US] have their group, they will come to work in Cambodia, and they think most about rights and the nation,” she said, added that funds to form the party would come from Cambodian-Americans. 

Ms. Sopheap was excluded from the CNRP after claiming that party president Sam Rainsy diverted for his own use almost $20 million earmarked for the party.

“Cambodian-Americans have lost their belief in the CNRP, and they do not believe in the CNRP’s leaders anymore,” she said. “CNRP leaders do not think about common interests. They only think of their own interests.”

Ms. Sopheap said Cambodian-American support for the CNRP has dropped in recent years, with people yearning for a new voice to lead.

Her announcement comes on the heels of Mr. Rainsy’s month long tour of Cambodian diaspora communities in the US and France. At some American stops, dissenters raised their voices. CNRP USA members split over Mr. Rainsy’s appointment of a new leader.

“In the 2013 election, [you said] if the NEC is not changed, you will not participate in the National Assembly. So why accept the deal now?” said ond elderly man at one of Mr. Rainsy’s stops in California. “Many mandates have passed already. By 2018, there will be no land, no more monks, no more Cambodians, and everyone will become slaves.”

Ms. Sopheap said Mr. Rainsy betrayed his followers by joining the National Assembly and trying to work with Prime Minister Hun Sen.

“He is not honest with Cambodians – inside the country and abroad,” she said. “In the US, there are about 45 to 55 percent of Cambodians who are supporting us to form a new party.”

Ms. Sopheap is drafting statutes and internal regulations. 

“We will finish our draft later this month, and we will send it to the Interior Ministry to approve,” she said, adding that she will organize a congress after the Interior Ministry approves her party. 

High-level, elected posts such as president, vice president and secretary-general will be decided in the party’s first congress. 

“We do not want to make any nepotism, and form a party within a party,” Ms. Sopheap said, tacitly suggesting that nepotism runs rampant within the CNRP. 

She declined to reveal her own position within her party, saying that: “My position in the party is not an important one, but we can help our country.”

CNRP spokesman Yem Ponhearith has applauded Ms. Sopheap’s effort. 

“It is the right of people to form a party and join to resolve national issues,” he told Khmer Times, adding that the CNRP was not concerned about losing popularity or funds from their US-based supporters. 

“People have seen and understood our activity, leaders and our structure,” he said. 

According to Mr. Ponhearith, Cambodians in the US still support of the opposition party.