"But I think the primary reason is to offer the Cambodian public a sense of a bit more choice. It has the benefit of showing Western countries "a more democratic, legitimate electoral process," he added. It was a choice that the party made very likely with a strategic goal in mind," he said. I mean, this is not something that CPP had to do. "We have to ask why Candlelight Party has been able to register and run in the upcoming election. The merger of several opposition parties in the final months before the election could build momentum and help counter the ruling party's aggressive tactics in consolidating power, said longtime political observer Ok Serei Sopheak, a former chairman of the board of directors for Transparency International Cambodia.īut there are few signs of unity within the fragmented opposition, which the ruling CPP knows, said Sebastian Strangio, author of "Hun Sen's Cambodia." We will win," Teav Vannol told VOA Khmer after the congress concluded.įILE - Cambodia's main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party Vice President Kem Sokha, center, waves during a protest rally in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 20, 2013. The Candlelight Party will gain support from voters in 25 provinces. Teav Vannol, its president and a former opposition senator, told the congress it is aiming higher, pointing to its success in the 2022 commune elections, when it won 22% of the vote shortly after forming. Yet the Candlelight Party could secure its place as the main opposition with just a few seats in parliament, in which the CPP currently holds all 125 seats. While the party has borrowed the symbol of the movement started by exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy - a white candle with an orange flame - he is not officially involved due to his legal baggage, and few expect the party to come anywhere close to the 55 National Assembly seats secured by the opposition CNRP a decade ago. SEE ALSO: VOA Khmer Service's special project on the 2018 elections. The attendees echoed the raucous rallies of the dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which garnered immense popularity and success in the 2013 national elections and the 2017 commune elections before it was dismantled by the country's courts, sending many of its leaders into exile. The call-and-response erupted from the crowd gathered in early February on the outskirts of Siem Reap, the Cambodian city best-known for the temple complex of Ankor Wat. "Change! Change! Change!" chanted some 7,000 activists and supporters of the party that represents the most potent challenge the long-ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, faces in the upcoming national election in July. Loughrey did not respond immediately to a request for comment."Change or no change?" asked the announcer at the first national congress of the Candlelight Party. “We urge researchers, artists and the public not to manipulate any historical source to respect the victims,” it said. The ministry said Loughrey’s project also violated the rights of the museum as the lawful owner and custodian of the images. “To play around by using technology to put make-up on the victims of S21 … is a very grave insult to the souls of the victims of genocide,” the exiled Cambodian politician Mu Sochua tweeted.Īn estimated 1.7 million people, a quarter of Cambodia’s population at the time, were killed between 19 under the Khmer Rouge regime. However, on social media, people posted what appeared to be the original images alongside the edited versions, questioning why individuals’ expressions had changed. ![]() The allegation that the expressions on people’s faces had been changed was not raised during the interview. In April 2021, Vice Media was criticized by Cambodians for photoshopping. ![]() He then worked on further images of victims, adding that more people had come forward with requests.Īsked about the smiles that appeared on some victims’ faces, Loughrey said this may have been due to nervousness and that women appeared to smile more often than men, but he did not say that he had added smiles to some of the restored images. Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. ![]() In the interview with Vice, now removed, Loughrey said he began working on photographs from Tuol Sleng when he was contacted by someone in Cambodia who wanted three photographs – including one ID photo taken inside the prison – to be restored. Vice said the report did not meet its editorial standards: “The article included photographs of Khmer Rouge victims that Loughrey manipulated beyond colorisation… We regret the error and will investigate how this failure of the editorial process occurred.” The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said it considered the edited images “to seriously affect the dignity of the victims” and called for them to be removed from publication, threatening legal action.
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