Khem Veasna, the president of the League for Democracy Party, said on Sunday that the country was not facing a political crisis.
Recent troubles were rather only personal disputes between members of the opposition party, he said.
Veasna’s statement came on the 10th anniversary of the founding of the liberal party and amid a widespread consensus among Cambodia analysts that the country is facing its worst political crisis since disputed election was held in 2013.
“I say that there is no political crisis, meaning that there is only the crisis of the CNRP, which is now under other people’s grip. As long as they acknowledge that there is a crisis in the party, and [we say] please help us, it’s possible for a solution. Everything begins from the acknowledgement of our actual situation, so every issue will be solved,” he said.
He added that he thought the CNRP would see a decline in support leading up to the next election.
“In the next mandate its support would partially decrease. And the next mandate, their [votes] would sharply fall down like the Funcinpec party. This is the first stage for it to die. Or if the supporters stopped supporting it, it will die. Or the [ruling Cambodian People’s Party] see that it can’t be kept because it brings bad luck to the country,” he added.
Neither Yim Sovann nor Yem Ponhearith, spokesmen for the opposition party, could be reached for comment on Sunday. Son Chhay, chief whip of the CNRP, declined to comment.
“I rarely pay attention or listen to him [Veasna],” he said.
In ten years since its founding, the LDP has yet to gain a seat in parliament. Veasna maintains that he wanted people to “understand the party strategy” first, and has concentrated on education programs and teaching people to be “model citizens”.
Sok Eysan, a spokesman for the CPP, said Veasna was entitled to his opinion and the CPP had no intention of attacking the CNRP.
During the anniversary celebrations, Veasna told reporters his party supporters had raise the money to buy him a new car worth almost $49,000.