Sam Rainsy on the campaign trail delivering a typical campaign speech

Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy in a teleconference with party supporters in Cambodia

25 June 2011

SAM RAINSY ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL DELIVERING A TYPICAL CAMPAIGN SPEECH

Even though being forced into exile, opposition leader Sam Rainsy is on the campaign trail. With the January 2012 senatorial election looming, he is travelling from one province to another to meet with the 2,660 SRP elected commune councillors who, with some other 10,000 commune councillors from the dominant CPP and two small “royalist” parties, will be the only few privileged citizens allowed to cast their votes to elect Cambodia’s 61senators early next year.

By clicking at http://tinyurl.com/6hhr2sw you can hear Sam Rainsy addressing a group of voters in Kampot province in a typical campaign speech. In only 15 minutes, Sam Rainsy concisely elaborated on the main issues facing Cambodia: land grabbing, deforestation, overfishing, depletion of natural resources, poverty, corruption, border delineation, illegal immigration, attempt by the ruling CPP to buy votes and to manipulate some other parties. He called for national unity around the SRP in order to prevent Cambodia from vanishing.

Actually, Sam Rainsy is “travelling” and “meeting” with people all over Cambodia only through the Internet, by means of videoconferences. Thanks to modern technologies, physical presence is not as important and cost-effective as virtual presence.

In Thailand, where national elections will be held in coming July, opposition leader tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, who has also been forced into exile, has also been using the same modern technologies to address the electorate, on a much larger scale and with a much more sophisticated and expensive equipment.