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The polls were closed in Cambodia. The official results will only take place on August 11, but the reconfirmation of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) by Prime Minister Hun Sen, prime minister since 1985, seems obvious.
The elections of Sunday, July 29 were the first after the forced dissolution in 2017 of the main opposition party, the National Relief Party of Cambodia (CNRP); its leader, Sam Rainsy, is in voluntary exile in France and described as "false" the victory of Hu Sen.
"For the first time in 25 years, since the elections organized by the United Nations in 1993, Cambodia The vote took place without the American and European international observers, who sent no mission and distanced themselves more and more of the strong man of Cambodia.
The election campaign was articulated in the total absence of a credible opposition and in the context of a vast Hu Sen, a former Khmer Rouge defector who came to power in a country still shaken by the civil war, lobbied civil society, independent media and political rivals to create a climate that, according to Hu Sen badysts and human rights activists did not ensure free and fair elections.
The National Electoral Commission stated that the voter turnout at polling stations was 82%, higher than that recorded lor s of the last popular consultation of 2013 (69%), a fact that, although doubtful, serves the prime minister to legitimize his victory after the call of the opposition to boycott the polls.
Hu Sen focused everything on stability and economic growth. "The compatriots have chosen the democratic way and exercised their right," reads on his official Facebook page, while the spokesman of the PCP was already waiting for a great victory.
In the last election of 2013, Hun Sen had a little San Rainsy opponent of the National Redemption Party (CNRP). Since then, Hun Sen has dissolved the opposition party and effectively suppressed press freedom in the country.
Hun Sen without rivals
In the recent round, the Cambodian People's Party, led by Hun Sen, had no rivals.
More than eight million electors had the right to vote to elect the 125 deputies of the National Assembly. The main opposition party, however, asked its supporters to refrain from voting.
Although CNRP key figures are in exile, party leader Sam Rainsy, who lives in Paris, and CNRP MP Mu Sochua in Berlin, urged voters to boycott elections as the only way to undermine the power of Hun Sen.
Prime Minister counterattacked and called the boycott "illegal"
The national buy-out party has more weight in the country's politics. In 2013, under the leadership of San Rainey, he won 44% of the vote: 55 seats in total
Party pranks
Twenty parties that "challenged" the leader in power for more than thirty years. years, but many of these are nothing more than facades, born specifically to make believe that in Cambodia, it is always possible to choose who to vote for.
The country has gradually turned into an authoritarian regime, but the acceleration came last November when the Supreme Court announced the dissolution of the National Redemption Party (CNRP), the country's main political party.
Hun Sen felt threatened by the numbers won by the opposition party in the 2013 elections In fact, the court's decision came at the specific request of the government, in the US. intention to withdraw the NCCP.
The Conspiracy Charge
The government's charge to the party was to have an agreement with "foreign forces" to overthrow the outgoing prime minister's government. To support the conspiracy thesis, according to the government, a video of 2013 in which you saw Kem Sokha, politician at the head of the PRNC, in Australia addressing Cambodian residents.
In this video Kem Sokha reportedly claimed to have received advice from the United States on how to oppose the Hun Sen-led government.
The National Redemption Party rejected accusations of conspiracy and treason, but the Court dismantled the only real force of political opposition.
Activists arrested and those fleeing abroad
A period of persecution of CNRP activists began from that moment. Some were arrested, many fled the country. Many have found refuge in neighboring Thailand.
On the Guardian, Ky Wandara, for twenty years as treasurer of the CNRP, recounted the last ten months of hell. In October, he was forced to leave his country and flee to Thailand
Most CNRP exiles stay in Thailand, but do not feel safe anyway. In fact, these activists are constantly on the move to avoid being discovered and sent back to Cambodia
There are more than four hundred agents sent by Hun Sen across the border to hunt down dissidents and monitor their movements in Thailand. They live alone, he says, because moving in a group means finding oneself more easily in Hun Sen's radar and being discovered
Ky Vandala, Testimony of the Former Treasurer
"All The world is afraid that Hun Sen's Thai authorities or spies will find them and force them to return to Cambodia. " Ky Vandara recounts his experience and what he lives without fear of being sent back to Cambodia. In fact, he got political asylum in New Zealand, where he can live in security
He escaped from the country when he knew that he was on the list of 118 banished from the country for political reasons.
other than "a fiction, a catastrophe", as he told Guardian Mu Sochua, the vice-president of CNRP who also lives in exile
Without any legitimate opposition , the victory of Hun Sen is granted. "There is no way for voters to express themselves in these elections – they are intimidated and threatened all the time – and there is nothing legitimate about this election. will continue to ask voters to boycott elections. "
The Cambodian constituency recently said boycotts are a" crime ", while the police chief said that" the campaign of clean fingers "- a reference to The lack of indelible ink that voters use to mark their skin after voting – equates to preventing people from voting "and so" is illegal.
Interior Minister Sar Kheng said the voters who participated in the boycott could be fined five thousand dollars.
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