(12 Jul 2013)
++CLIENTS PLEASE NOTE - UPDATED SCRIPT++
AP TELEVISION
FILE - 24 July 1998
1. Wide of Sam Rainsy (exiled Cambodian opposition leader) being carried on shoulders of supporters at rally for Sam Rainsy Party
FILE - July 2003 (Exact date unknown)
2. Wide of vehicles at rally for Sam Rainsy Party
3. Close of Rainsy looking out of car window
FILE - 27 July 2003
4. Various of Rainsy queuing up at polling station
5. Mid of Rainsy entering polling station
6. Close of electoral paperwork
7. Close of Rainsy voting
8. Tilt up of Rainsy having hand stamped after voting
STORYLINE:
Cambodia's opposition leader was granted a pardon on Friday for offences that would have put him in prison for 11 years, clearing the way for the self-exiled politician to return home and campaign in the upcoming general election.
The pardon for Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) leader Sam Rainsy came after the US and others had said the exclusion of Rainsy from the July 28 vote would call into question the polls' legitimacy.
It also came shortly after Rainsy declared he planned to come back before the election, which suggests a deal may have been worked out.
Rainsy has lived abroad since 2009 to avoid serving more than a decade in prison on charges widely seen as politically motivated.
He had announced his intention to return to Cambodia last Sunday, in a letter to the international community from France, where he has been living.
At that point the government warned that he could face arrest on arriving back in the country.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Hun Sen said the pardon had nothing to do with the election or international pressure.
Rainsy went into exile after he was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment for moving border markers at the frontier with Vietnam, seven for spreading false information about the border with Vietnam and two more for defaming Foreign Minister Hor Namhong by associating him with the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime of the late 1970s.
The pardon would appear to benefit both Sam Rainsy and Hun Sen, long-time bitter rivals, but is not likely to greatly affect the big picture at the polls.
Though Rainsy is seen as the sole Cambodian politician with the charisma and resources to present any real challenge to the well-entrenched Prime Minister and his Cambodian People's Party (CPP), Hun Sen is still expected to win in a landslide and extend his 28-year rule.
Still a return would at least provide a morale boost for Rainsy's CNRP party, which has been greatly handicapped by having its leader absent.
The opposition was dealt a blow last month when 28 of its lawmakers were expelled from parliament after a committee, run by Hun Sen's party, ruled they had broken the law by running for re-election under the banner of Rainsy's party and not the parties under which they had won their seats.
They can still run in the upcoming election, but without parliamentary immunity.
Immunity from arrest is of great benefit in Cambodia's notoriously dirty elections, and those without it are at risk of being charged with defamation for remarks seen critical of Hun Sen and his government.
For Hun Sen, the move preempts some criticism of the fairness of the election.
He has used similar tactics before, pressuring his opponents until they were in disarray, then making conciliatory gestures at the last minute.
One of Rainsy's political tactics is to appeal to Cambodian nationalism by speaking out against Vietnam, the country's traditional enemy.

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