Cambodia's 'sham' election inspires boycott against Hun Sen

BANGKOK-Cambodians Now Voting in Sunday's General Election Will Have a Nominal Choice of 20 Parts, But in Reality, Only Two Serious Options: Extend Prime Minister Hun Sen's 33 years in power, or do not vote at all.

The key factor in ensuring security is the elimination of the credibility of the opposition, when the Supreme Court declared the Cambodian National Rescue Party complicit in trying to overthrow the government in a plot sponsored by the United States. The far-fetched allegation appears unsupported by any evidence.

The court ordered the party dissolved, also banning its leaders from holding office for five years and expelling its members from the elective positions they held. One party leader already in exile and the other in jail awaiting trial on the trumpet charge

Along with fracturing the political opposition, Hun Sen's government silenced critical voices in the media, shutting down about 30 radio stations and gutting two language newspapers that provided independent reporting. A law was pbaded putting burdensome restrictions on the country 's vibrant civil society organizations.

On Saturday, Cambodian Authorities admitted the temporary blocking of 17 websites just ahead of the polls, citing regulations official end of campaigning.

Information Ministry Director General for Broadcasting and Media Phos Sovann said the websites, which he said as biased against the government, would be accessible again on Sunday.

With control of the legislature and the bureaucracy, more about the judiciary, there are no checks and balances on Hun Sen's administration.

"Cambodia's election is a process that is designed to prolong Hun Sen., author of this article, "said Debbie Stothard, secretary general of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.

The leaders of the opposition party, most of whom have fled into exile to avoid arbitrary arrests, [17] "Hungry", "Sam Rainsy, the popular, self-exiled train leader of the Cambodian National Rescue Party, or CNRP, wrote on his Facebook page earlier this month. "

Ironically, a practice to fight to vote to avoid fraud – to dipping a finger in indelible ink to prevent multiple voting – makes Cambodians who fail to cast their high-profile ballots targets for any officials seeking to spot and punish opposition supporters.

The "Clean Finger" campaign promoted by the opposition is a form of political mobilization, said Mu Sochua, to form lawmaker and CNRP vice-president.

According to her, this is not a finger in the finger. you want – democracy, liberty, liberty, justice. "

Officials, claiming advocacy of the boycott is illegal, have made several arrests, but the opposition has effectively used social media to publicize its call. 9002] Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party, but it is not a question of success. repression, swinging between violence and reconciliation, goal the slide into more serious authoritarian rule was triggered by the last general election in 2013, when the opposition CNRP won 55 seats in the National Assembly – a gain of 26 seats – while Hun Sen's party lost 22

The results have been alarming The race has been close enough for the opposition to claim that it would have won the vote. news for Hun Sen, who at 65 insists he will be able to help you in your life.

ouge, the radical communist group 1975-79 genocidal rule left almost two-million Cambodians dead. A Khmer Rouge officer himself, Hun Sen defected to neighbouring Vietnam, with whom he returned to help us train his comrades. He became prime minister in a Hanoi-backed regime, and continued to battle Khmer Rouge guerrillas into the 1990s.

More recently, he has been in charge of the expansion of infrastructure, his major campaign

But with economic growth came corruption, land-grabbing and cronyism and a culture of impunity typical of a broken justice system.

Demographics also appear to work against Hun Sen's party. A younger generation, without firsthand acquaintance of their country's history of war and instability, are less likely to pay heed to their warnings. Economic growth, increased horizons that come with a connected, globalized world, fuel rising expectations.

The breadth and depth of Hun Sen's crackdown is a break with his historical behavior, where he teased, taunted, and threatened

Hun Sen was beholden to the law of democracy.

That seems all over now, said Sebastian Strangio, author of a 2014 biography of the prime minister. A mission to rehabilitate Cambodia in 1992 and 1993. Introduction of a liberal democracy to replace the clbadical communist single-party state (19659002) ] Further financial badistance was needed to develop Cambodia, so Hun Sen at least maintained a democratic framework to satisfy its benefactors. They have a strongman who has been able to do this.

If the 2013 and 2017 election results were the motivation for Hun Sen's smackdown of its opponents, China was the enabler, said Strangio, obviating the need for Western development aid by providing hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure loans and other forms of financing with few strings attached.

For its part, Beijing gets a strong political ally in Southeast Asia which can be relied upon in international forums to back up China's position on

"Over the past year, we have seen the government decisively roll back the areas of freedom it once preserved in Cambodia as a result of Western donor governments," said Strangio.

"Now the government does not really need any help for Cambodian political landscape in line with their long-term