Cambodia’s sole opposition party disqualified from July polls

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s National Election Commitee refused on Monday to register the opposition Candlelight Party, the sole credible challenger to the governing Cambodian People’s Party, for July elections, saying it had failed to provide necessary documents.

The ruling leaves the party only a very slim chance of taking part in the elections by filing a successful appeal to the Constitutional Council.

Kimsour Phirith, a spokesperson for the Candlelight Party, said it will file an official complaint asking the council to judge the election commission’s ruling.

He pointed out that the party has been operating legally and participated in last year’s local elections without the issue being raised.

In those polls, the Cambodian People’s Party won 74.3% of the votes and the Candlelight Party about 22.3%.

Kimsour Phirith said when the party applied to contest this year’s elections, the election commission asked for its original registration papers issued by the Interior Ministry, but they had been taken in a 2017 police raid on the headquarters of its predecessor, the Cambodia National Rescue Party.

He told reporters that by law, the party has five days to file a complaint ater being disqualified, and he hopes the Constitutional Council will render a judgment based on the law.

Cambodian courts are widely considered to be under the influence of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government and his Cambodian People’s Party.

The governing party has held an iron grip on power for decades and controls almost every lever of government. Hun Sen, 70, an authoritarian ruler in a nominally democratic state, has held his position for 38 years.

His eldest son, army chief Hun Manet, is widely expected to replace his father as prime minister ater the polls.

The Candlelight Party is the unofficial successor to the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which threatened to present a serious challenge to Hun Sen’s party in the 2018 elections.

But it was dissolved just months ahead of the polls by a controversial court ruling that said it had ploted the illegal overthrow of the government.