The Cambodian Youth Party celebrated its first anniversary yesterday, with party leader Pich Sros using a ceremony in Tbong Khmum province to slam the ruling party as incompetent and the opposition as paid shills of the government.

“Some officials own hectares of land and thousands of farmer families own land of less than 1 hectare,” Sros said. “The agriculture sector is a weakness of Prime Minister Hun Sen. With a population of 14 million, and 70 percent [of them] farmers, he could not help them.”

Sros promised to expand the market for Cambodian agricultural products if elected, but did not provide details about how that might occur. He also slammed the CNRP as a deliberately incompetent puppet of the CPP. “I, Pich Sros, declare that Sam Rainsy is a puppet of Hun Sen,” he told the crowd. “The CNRP today has been hired by Hun Sen to do politics.”

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann yesterday rejected the claim. “If we did nothing, how come the people supported us to have 55 seats in the National Assembly?” he said. “What he says does not matter. Let’s wait for him to get seats in the [assembly].”

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the government had done much to help farmers and also denied paying the CNRP to be a deliberately incompetent opposition to CPP rule. “To accuse the CPP of paying the CNRP to be servants is looking down on that party,” he said, adding the CNRP was in fact putting up a fight. “The CNRP is working to get support from voters.”