More than 50 village-level CNRP members in Prey Veng province have defected to the ruling party, a local Cambodian People’s Party official announced yesterday, though an opposition spokesman said the group never belonged to the party.

According to Pheng Vannak, the deputy chief of the CPP’s working group in Mesang district’s Prey Khnes commune, the party inducted 54 former opposition supporters during a ceremony on Saturday.

“We welcome all members from every political party,” Vannak said. “They joined with us because they are no longer happy and have lost confidence in the opposition, because it always makes empty promises.”

Ngin Nhorn, 52, among those initiated on the weekend, said he was disgruntled because the CNRP had not delivered on a promise to make him a local official.

“I served the CNRP since it was born, and the party promised me I would become the village chief of Trapang Preah I in Mesang district, but they lied,” Nhorn said. “Now I understand about development. The CPP has brought roads and electricity to the village.”

However, a spokesman for the Cambodia National Rescue Party, Eng Chhay Eang, said the men were not CNRP members and their “defection” was an “old political move” by their rivals.