Cambodians voted in local polls yesterday as a revived opposition party attempted to dent Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s decades-long grip on power ahead of national elections next year.
Hun Sen, one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, has ruled Cambodia for more than 37 years and turned the nation into a one-party state at the 2018 general election, winning every parliamentary seat.
Critics and rights groups have accused him of creating a climate of fear by locking up scores of political opponents.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party — which won 44 percent of the popular vote in previous local elections in 2017 — was forced to forfeit its positions after a court dissolved the party later that year.
Scores of opposition figures have since fled the country, while others have been arrested.
Opposition leader Kem Sokha, who was arrested and jailed for more than a year, is facing a treason trial, while Rescue party cofounder Sam Rainsy is living in France to escape convictions he said were politically motivated.
Yesterday’s vote in 1,652 communes, or village clusters, took the country’s political pulse ahead of the national elections next year.
Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) made a show of strength in Phnom Penh on Friday with a massive parade of cars, trucks, motorcycles and tuk-tuks greeted by flag-waving supporters.
Seventeen political parties are running in the local elections, with more than 11,600 positions up for grabs, the majority of which are controlled by the ruling party.
However, all eyes are on the the Candlelight Party (CP), founded by Rainsy in 1995, which has registered candidates to contest nearly all communes and has been gaining strong support.
“The Candlelight Party is the last hope for the people, although we are suffering from intimidation and threats, and political harassment,” party secretary-general Lee Sothearayuth said.
UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Liz Throssell said she was disturbed by patterns of obstruction targeting opposition candidates ahead of the poll.
She warned that the party “faces a paralyzing political environment” after at least six candidates and public supporters were arrested in the run-up to the vote.
The Candlelight Party is well-positioned to attract supporters and is the only party that “poses a realistic threat” to Hun Sen’s CPP, said Sebastian Strangio, an expert on Cambodian politics and the author of Hun Sen’s Cambodia.
“A strong opposition showing would demonstrate that the popular discontent with CPP rule continues to simmer beneath the surface of Cambodian politics,” he said.
CPP spokesman Sok Eysan downplayed the threat, saying that his party would “overwhelmingly” win.
“The whole glass has already broken. So these small pieces of glass are not strong,” he said, referring to the opposition movement.
An estimated 9.2 million people were registered to cast ballots yesterday.
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