Opposition Sam Rainsy Party members have accused ruling Cambodian People’s Party officials of trying to steal the opposition party’s list of candidates for the upcoming commune elections and offering a US$5,000 bounty to any SRP member that delivers, SRP party officials said last week.

“It is in Kandal province – where Prime Minister Hun Sen lives and votes – that the CPP is doing its utmost to hamper the SRP,” SRP lawmakers said in a statement released on Friday.

The SRP members claimed that a reward of up to $5,000 has been offered by CPP officials to any SRP member who could steal opposition lists of candidates and bring them to the CPP.

However, SRP lawmaker Eng Chhay Eang told the Post yesterday that the SRP cannot prove this buying because the attempted bribery had happened at the grassroots level.

Phay Siphan, spokesman for the current CPP government, dismissed the allegations yesterday, saying that opposition parties always bat around bribery allegations during election season.