(20 Jul 1998) Eng/Khmer/Nat
Cambodian leader Hun Sen has spoken from a hospital in Phnom Penh where he's recovering from an emergency appendectomy.
The strongman of Cambodian politics, who is the favourite to win next Sunday's election, says he's well enough to vote for his ruling party.
The run-up to the election has been marred by violence and on Monday a team of E-U observers arrived to monitor balloting.
At a hastily assembled news conference at Calmette Hospital in the Cambodian capital, Hun Sen told journalists he was feeling well after his operation.
Wearing pyjamas, Hun Sen says he'll leave hospital on Tuesday and is prepared to vote for his Cambodian People's Party on Sunday.
Hun Sen is the favourite to win the election, but opposition parties claim Hun Sen's supporters have rigged the ballots and resorted to violence to ensure victory.
SOUNDBITE: (Khmer with English translation)
"They (referring to people responsible for making up rumours) have nothing better to do than to make up stories."
SUPER CAPTION: Hun Sen, Leader of Cambodian People's Party
Hun Sen deposed his co-prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, in a bloody coup last year.
The prince's royalist party had finished atop U-N-sponsored elections in 1993, but Hun Sen forced his way into a coalition by threatening civil war.
Now in the run-up to this year's election there has been more violence, prompting the arrival of a team of E-U observers.
Last week two people were killed and five injured in an alleged attack by Khmer Rouge guerrillas, against a convoy bringing election workers and materials to a remote site.
Hun Sen says the attack doesn't mean the group is regaining strength.
SOUNDBITE: (Khmer)
"It's (the attack) something to regret. But at the same time we have to review our work. It seems that in a way we weren't careful enough."
SUPER CAPTION: Hun Sen, Leader of Cambodian People's Party
On a lighter note Hun Sen lit a cigarette and joked with journalists that he has promised to his daughter he will give up chain-smoking when she graduates from university.
SOUNDBITE: (Khmer)
"When I smoke, I concentrate better."
SUPER CAPTION: Hun Sen, Leader of Cambodian People's Party
While Hun Sen is tipped to win the election, he says if he loses he's quite prepared to hand power over to the winner.
SOUNDBITE: (Khmer)
"I will bet for power if I win the election. I will organise the new government led by me and if I lose the election I will hand over the power I have today to the winner.That is the way one could bet in the election."
SUPER CAPTION: Hun Sen, Leader of Cambodian People's Party
Asked about the recent violence in the run-up to the election Hun Sen says it's unfair that politicians are being blamed for it.
SOUNDBITE: (Khmer)
"In Cambodia there is a show of grenades, but in Oklahoma they pulled down a 15-storey building and why do they not blame Clinton?"
SUPER CAPTION: Hun Sen, Leader of Cambodian People's Party
Meanwhile election organisers are holding prayers this week ahead of next weekend's election to pray for peace.
Buddhist monks and nuns have also been marching and praying for the bloodshed to end.
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20 июл 2015
