Political theatre of switching parties
OFF of National Road 5, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, a dusty road leading to Svay Pak commune is flanked by two party billboards: the ruling Cambodian People’s Party on one side, and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party on the other.
The juxtaposition seems appropriate for a commune where 47 CNRP activists made headlines this month by allegedly defecting to the ruling party.
The spectacle was not the first, of course. Every few months, the CPP trots out a slew of defectors who announce their shifting loyalty in dramatic fashion. For example, on May 16, progovernment news source Fresh News reported that over 600 CNRP activists defected to the ruling party across five provinces and the capital.
CPP officials predictably revelled in the spectacle, pointing to divisions within the party, while CNRP officials scrambled to deny that the defections ever took place. In the rare instance when the opposition party does admit the desertions are legitimate, it scorns the defectors as bribe takers.
But the truth, analysts say, lies somewhere closer to the middle.
One of the Svay Pak defectors, Morm Noy, lives down a narrow road hedged in by houses made of stone, brick, and sheet metal.
He supported the opposition for around 15 years, but as of this month pictures of CONTINUED
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