Cambodia’s opposition threatens nationwide general strike
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy on September 25 announced that his party could stage nationwide labour strikes in protest of disputed election results, and said his Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) would begin an international campaign to make the ruling Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) a pariah.
“In the air is an idea of general strikes, so the whole country for one day we will call for strikes. All factories, all civil servants, all shopkeepers will stop working that day, this is one possible idea,” Rainsy said at a press conference held at the CNRP’s headquarters in Phnom Penh.
“We will conduct a worldwide campaign to delegitimise this government. We appeal to international signatories of the Paris Peace Agreements to…condemn this newly formed government. Do what you can to make this government know it is not legitimate,” he added.
The country’s Prime Minister Hun Sen said that if the CNRP attempts to stage further mass demonstrations against his government, he will release a recording of the negotiations showing that Rainsy and his deputy, Kem Sokha, had backed down from their demands for an election investigation.
However, Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union, Cambodia’s biggest labour organisation, said he would ask his 100,000 members to join the protest, noting that the CNRP had promised to nearly double the minimum wage if it won power.
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy on September 25 announced that his party could stage nationwide labour strikes in protest of disputed election results, and said his Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) would begin an international campaign to make the ruling Cambodia People's Party (CPP) a pariah. “In the air is an idea of general strikes, so the whole country for one day we will call for strikes. All factories, all civil servants, all shopkeepers will stop working that day, this is one possible idea,” Rainsy said at a press conference held at the CNRP’s headquarters in Phnom Penh. “We will...
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy on September 25 announced that his party could stage nationwide labour strikes in protest of disputed election results, and said his Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) would begin an international campaign to make the ruling Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) a pariah.
“In the air is an idea of general strikes, so the whole country for one day we will call for strikes. All factories, all civil servants, all shopkeepers will stop working that day, this is one possible idea,” Rainsy said at a press conference held at the CNRP’s headquarters in Phnom Penh.
“We will conduct a worldwide campaign to delegitimise this government. We appeal to international signatories of the Paris Peace Agreements to…condemn this newly formed government. Do what you can to make this government know it is not legitimate,” he added.
The country’s Prime Minister Hun Sen said that if the CNRP attempts to stage further mass demonstrations against his government, he will release a recording of the negotiations showing that Rainsy and his deputy, Kem Sokha, had backed down from their demands for an election investigation.
However, Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union, Cambodia’s biggest labour organisation, said he would ask his 100,000 members to join the protest, noting that the CNRP had promised to nearly double the minimum wage if it won power.
