In Cambodia, strong participation in legislative elections, Hun Sen ensured victory

The high turnout (82%) in the parliamentary elections of Sunday, July 29 is, in itself, a kind of victory for the strongman of Cambodia, the Prime Minister Hun Sen. In power for thirty-three years, it was important for the master of the kingdom, aged 65, that a large number of voters fulfill their duty as citizens.

It was for him a question of legitimacy. Even if the " overwhelming victory " announced in the evening by Hun Sen on his Facebook account could be tempered by the possibility of a large number of blank or void newsletters. " In my polling station, many voters have scratched their ballots", told us S., a young 23-year-old intellectual who does not want to be named.

It could be for some Cambodians a way to protest against elections of the third type: after the dissolution of the largest opposition party, the National Rescue Party of Cambodia (PSNC), accused of "conspiracy" against the end of 2017 the government, the outcome of the election was no doubt: the nineteen parties vying against that of the Prime Minister, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), could not threaten the latter, whose victory was gained.

Hun Sen chose the strong way before the elections

" To conquer without danger, one triumph without glory ", immediately reacted in a statement the president of the PSNC, the Franco-Cambodian Sam Rainsy, 69 years, in exile in Paris. He denounced " false elections placed under the sign of fear [qui] can not translate the popular will. »The co-founder of his party, Kem Sokha, has been in prison for almost two years.

Sam Rainsy, who had called for a boycott, had already declared to World, shortly before the election , that " the stake of the ballot will be [it] not the victory but the participation rate ". But he had little illusions: " In the countryside, where control of the CPP is permanent, people will be afraid of not going to the polls. Rural people will vote against their will "he said

All observers agree that Hun Sen chose this time the strong way before the elections, tightening a little more The influence of his regime on the country, it is to prevent a possible victory of his opponents on July 29: five years ago, in the last election, the opposition had carved croupiers to the party of the Prime Minister, who had lost twenty-two seats compared to the previous election.

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                Hun Sen locks his grip on Cambodia
    

" We are afraid of being sanctioned"

In the garment-making workshops, whose production accounts for 70% of the country's exports, foremen and employers, mostly close to the government, had exorcated their employees to go to vote.

" We are afraid of being sanctioned in case our index would not be stained with ink when we return to work Tuesday ", dreaded, at the end of the week, Lyeen Shinath, 33, a trade unionist in China's Roo Hsing factory – in Cambodia, every voter plunges his finger in black ink after slipping his ballot into the ballot box.

On a more anecdotal mode, the franchise Chatime, Taiwanese company that serves scented tea, had promised on Friday on its website a free cup of bubble tea (tea with tapioca seeds) to any customer showing a finger stained with black …

Detail, the Cambodian franchise belongs to M ^me Pich Chanmony, wife of Hun Manet, himself eldest son of the prime minister, a figure who occupies very high positions in the aviation and anti-terrorist units of the regime

Divided Opposition

The "clean finger" campaign of the banned or exiled opposition, which had thus baptized its calls to the boycott, will thus have failed, whatever the reasons. Especially since domestic opponents, some of whom are now leading parties running for elections, were hostile to the boycott.

Hun Sen's opponents appear more than ever divided. " Sam Rainsy has failed, he is politically finished! Yang Saing Koma, president of the Grbadroots Democratic Party (GDP), said on Sunday evening that he co-founded in 2015 with the late regime's Kem Ley, who was murdered in mysterious circumstances a year later in the middle of Phnom Penh.

" I had to fight in this election against two opponents said 52-year-old Yang Saing Sunday night in the modest wooden shack that serves as its seat in the suburbs from Phnom Penh. Against the prime minister, Hun Sen, and against Sam Rainsy's party. They may be political opponents, they are alike. In fact, they belong to a generation of the past.

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                Cambodia: false democracy, real tyranny