Cambodia’s election organizers yesterday said they will investigate a complaint against about 30 former opposition party members for calling for a boycott of Sunday’s general election.
The main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved last year, part of a wide-ranging crackdown by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen who is looking to secure his grip on power after a 2013 election that his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) narrowly won.
Authorities have said calls to boycott the vote are illegal, but rights groups said the calls are not against the law.
Ven Porn, head of the election committee in Battambang Province, said a CPP official had lodged a complaint against former CNRP members.
With no significant competition left, Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 33 years, is widely expected to win on Sunday.
CNRP leader Kem Sokha was in September last year jailed on treason charges that his supporters say were politically motivated.
He is in pre-trial detention near Cambodia’s border with Vietnam.
CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said the party sought to fine opposition members up to US$5,000 for calling on people not to vote.
“This is incitement and a trick to prevent people from voting, which is against the citizens’ rights as stated in the constitution,” Sok Eysan said.
Chea Chiv, a former head of the CNRP in Battambang who was named in the complaint, said boycotting the vote was not illegal.
“I won’t vote if there is no party I like, and this is freedom of expression as guaranteed by the law,” Chea Chiv told reporters.
Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch Asia division, expressed concern.
“When people go to vote, they have to stick their finger into India ink and so they [authorities] will be able to determine very clearly who’s got an inky finger and who hasn’t,” Robertson said. “The people who have not gone to vote may face some intimidation and harsh questions.”
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