December 18, 2018

CAMBODIA UPDATE
SAM RAINSY CONFIRMED AS ACTING PRESIDENT OF THE CNRP

To avoid the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) being paralyzed at the leadership
level after being arbitrarily dissolved by the Phnom Penh authorities, and with its
President Kem Sokha being held under house arrest, the vast majority of the party’s
officials and activists who can be contacted and accept to publicly express their will,
have designated Sam Rainsy as Acting President, effective December 9, 2018.

Sam Rainsy, co-founder and former President of the CNRP, is the only person who has
the historic and popular legitimacy to lead the CNRP during a transition period which
will end at the moment when President Kem Sokha has his full freedom restored and is
personally able to express himself in public.

The process of appointing Sam Rainsy began with the CNRP World Conference in
Atlanta, US, which met on December 1 and 2, 2018, and was attended by more than 400
representatives of overseas branches of the CNRP. The process was concluded by a large
public meeting in Paris on December 15, 2018, which drew more than 600 CNRP
leaders, activists and supporters from around the world including elected grassroots
officials and youth leaders from Cambodia who joined the meeting through Skype.

At Atlanta the participants unanimously adopted a 10-point resolution and forwarded it

to the CNRP Permanent Committee for consultation. The resolution details a concrete
plan to ensure a strong leadership for the CNRP in order for the party to more effectively
fight for the release of President Kem Sokha and to preserve the hope of the Cambodian
people who aspire for positive change. Unfortunately, the Permanent Committee, whose
members in Cambodia live in fear while others are in hiding, has been unable to meet. In
such an atmosphere of fear and intimidation reflecting a state of emergency, the party
bylaws cannot be implemented since it would be impossible to convene a party
Congress or any meeting of the Steering Committee or Permanent Committee.
Notwithstanding these constraints we do not want to see the party paralyzed and have
to take a decisive initiative to make the party move forward.

The two meetings in Atlanta and Paris -- the first for the nomination and the second for
the confirmation of an Acting President -- constitute the most open and realistic process
of consultation and decision-making that is possible under current conditions, to allow
the CNRP to have a clear and strong leadership capable of realising the objective of the
party, namely the restoration of democracy in Cambodia.

Mu Sochua
CNRP Vice President

Eng Chhai Eang

CNRP Vice President

Note: The third CNRP Vice President Pol Ham is currently in Cambodia and unable to
publicly express his will.