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For the second consecutive parliamentary election, Cambodia has eliminated the country’s main opposition party, eliminating any credible challenge to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party.
The country’s National Electoral Commission on Monday refused to register the party, the Candlelight Party, for the general election scheduled for July, saying it had failed to submit the required documents and was therefore ineligible to participate in the contest.
Mr. Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party now holds all 125 seats in Parliament after a government-controlled court dissolved its main challenger, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, ahead of the 2018 election. The Candlelight Party, with many of the same members, took its place.
Opposition party members said they would appeal the Election Commission’s decision. After the CNRP was dissolved in 2017, Mr. Hun Sen has moved on several fronts to neutralize the remaining opposition. A government-controlled court convicted about 100 opposition figures of treason and other charges, jailing some and sending some of their leaders into exile.
The most prominent opposition figure remaining in Cambodia, Kem Sokha, was tried on charges of treason and sentenced in March to 27 years under house arrest. In February, the government shut down a popular news outlet, Voice of Democracy, claiming it published false reports. It is one of the few publications left to provide critical coverage of the government.
The United Nations Human Rights Commission said at the time that “these actions seriously undermine civil and political space, including the environment for free and fair elections in July.” Last month, Human Rights Watch accused the Cambodian government of mounting verbal attacks that led to violent attacks on members of the Candlelight Party.
“Destroying opposition parties and canceling, attacking and arresting their members before election day means there will be no real elections,” he said in a statement.
Members of the Wax Party said the Election Commission has demanded original copies of official party documents, which no longer exist because they were seized in a police raid in 2017.
Following its decision, the Election Commission said it had approved the registration of more than 10 other parties. These parties include parties aligned with the Cambodian People’s Party, or small, obscure parties that do not pose a serious electoral challenge to the prime minister.
Hun Sen, 70, has held power for 38 years, eliminating opposition through the courts, through election manipulation, through violence and intimidation, and through a coup in 1997. He has anointed his eldest son, Army chief Hun Manet, to replace him. they. and has indicated that a transition of family power will follow this year’s elections in July.
“This has been a very dangerous year for Hun Sen,” Sam Rainsy, a prominent opposition leader, wrote from exile in an essay published online earlier this month. “This was the year when he decided to create a political dynasty after the election,” he wrote.
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