A dissident group, which was unexpectedly given the green light last month to form a political party, claims it has already exceeded the number of signatures necessary to register.

The Interior Ministry announced in March that it had approved an application from Sourn Serey Ratha, leader of the US-based Khmer People Power Movement (KPPM), to form a party, and called on him to complete the registration process, which involved collecting signatures from at least 4,000 members.

Serey Ratha said over the weekend that, having obtained the “official form” on March 21, members of the future Khmer Power Party (KPP) have already “reach[ed] a goal of 5,000 thumbprints”.

“Now we [just need to] build other supported documents that [are] required by the ministry,” he said, adding that the party plans to submit all of the required forms in the first week of May.

The KPPM has been labelled a terrorist movement by Prime Minister Hun Sen, and Serey Ratha has personally been sentenced under charges including treason.