Prominent Cambodian opposition lawmaker flees country after arrest threat
Mu Sochua says no hope for free and fair elections in Cambodia
A prominent Cambodian opposition lawmaker has fled the country after being warned by government officials that she faced arrest for links with the party president’s alleged plot to overthrow the government.
Mu Sochua, who also served as deputy president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), left Cambodia on Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Hun Sen warned of strong action against any others who may have been involved in the alleged plot. She had received an arrest warning from a senior Ministry of Interior official, Kem Monovithya, a deputy party chief for public affairs, said on Twitter late Tuesday.
“Without a true opposition and with the wide level of fear, there’s no hope for free and fair elections in 2018,” Mu Sochua, 63, told Reuters after leaving Cambodia, adding that she “did not feel safe”.
“Democracy in Cambodia is very rapidly eroding to a point where no other opposing forces are left to fight dictatorship,” she said.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan said Mu Sochua had “left of her own choice” and he did not know whether authorities had planned to arrest her.
