Dissolved opposition brands Cambodian election a ‘sham’

THE ruling party of Hun Sen, the Cambodian prime minister, congratulated itself yesterday on its election victory, while the opposition party unable to contest the vote said it marked the death of democracy in the south-east Asian country.

Sok Eysan, the spokesman for Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party, described Sunday’s vote on a public message sent over the Telegram chat application as a “brilliant victory” and said the country would move forward “under the umbrella of peace and political stability”.

Although 20 parties contested the election, the only one with the popularity and organisation to mount a real challenge, the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), was dissolved last year by the supreme court in a ruling generally seen as political and ensuring that Hun Sen would extend his 33 years in power by another five years.

The CNRP, in a statement issued yesterday by some of its former leaders in Jakarta, Indonesia, said that following the “sham election … what was left of a democracy in name only has been replaced with an outright dictatorship”.

The statement predicted that in reaction to the polls, foreign countries would apply punitive sanctions that would cripple the economy. Provisional results showed Hun Sen’s party winning 4,875,189, or 76.8per cent, of a total 6,349,389 valid ballots cast.

Under the election’s system of proportional representation, the party is almost certain to take more than 100 of the 125 seats in the National Assembly.

There were almost 600,000 spoiled ballots, generally interpreted to have been cast as protests by voters who wished to keep their identities secret.

Criticism of the election came from Western governments and other groups. The United States said it regretted the “flawed elections” and would consider its response, including expanding visa restrictions that were announced in December. The European Union said the elections did not reflect the will of the people.