Bun Chhay to be named president of KNUP again

Meas Sokchea | Publication date 04 June 2018 | 08:26 ICT

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Then and future KNUP leader Nhek Bun Chhay speaks to the press before commencing a party rally in May 2017 in Phnom Penh. Heng Chivoan

Former Khmer National United Party (KNUP) leader Nhek Bun Chhay, who was released from prison on bail last month, will be appointed its president again at a party congress next weekend.

His party said on Sunday that the move comes in order for him to take part in the July 29 national elections.

KNUP President Sing Kiri told The Post on Sunday that the party’s permanent committee will hold a congress on June 9 to reappoint Bun Chhay as president, and that the National Elections Committee (NEC) did not object to his candidacy in the elections.

He added that Bun Chhay is popular among the people and that the party can be victorious under his leadership.

“I have hope [for success at the elections], but we still don’t know how many National Assembly seats we can win. We have a lot of support from members and the people,” Kiri said.

NEC spokesman Hang Puthea said that although Bun Chhay can be recognised as a candidate and his party’s president, if he were to be charged in court he would not be able to stand in the elections or be party president.

Puthea was referring to Bun Chhay’s arrest in August last year, in connection with a 2007 drug production case in Kampong Speu’s Treng Trayeng district where he was linked to it for allegedly owning the land where the drug racket was based.

Hang Puthea said: “[If the court summonses him again] then he would have to attend the proceedings. If he [is charged] he cannot be a candidate. If convicted, he would have to serve his punishment.”

Justice Ministry spokesman Chin Malin said Bun Chhay could be summonsed at any time if the court found there was evidence he was involved in the case.

“The prosecution is in the hands of the investigating judge, and the investigating judge ordered him to be released on bail. At this stage, the court can summons him or resume proceedings at any time,” he said.

Bun Chhay was stripped of his title as adviser to the government in June last year after the leak of an alleged phone call to CNRP Deputy President Eng Chhay Eang in which he appeared to offer votes to the CNRP in communes that the KNUP was not contesting.

The CNRP was Cambodia’s main opposition party until it was dissolved by the Supreme Court. The party’s former leader, Kem Sokha, is in prison on treason charges.

It won nearly 500 commune seats and more than 5,000 commune councillor seats in last year’s communal elections, while Bun Chhay’s KNUP won one commune seat in Banteay Meanchey.