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Cambodian PM hails ‘free, fair’ elections despite criticism
PHNOM PENH, July 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Cambodia’s strongman leader Hun Sen
on Tuesday hailed this week’s elections as “free, fair and just” after a
controversial vote with no viable opposition drew criticism from Washington
and the European Union.
Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) is set to win all 125
parliamentary seats — cementing the country’s status as a one-party state —
after the main opposition party was barred from contesting Sunday’s poll.
But the prime minister, who has ruled for 33 years, swept aside questions
over the ballot’s legitimacy in a celebratory Facebook post on Tuesday.
“Cambodia decided the fate of the nation through a free, fair and just
election,” he wrote.
Rights groups accused Hun Sen of wiping out his political opposition,
choking free press and stamping out activism in the lead up to the poll.
Opposition figures had called for a voting boycott with a “clean finger”
campaign, which election authorities said failed with an estimated 82 percent
turnout and 6.3 million votes cast. But in a sign of pushback from unhappy
voters, around 600,000 ballots were spoiled.
In his post Tuesday, Hun Sen said citizens cast their ballots “without
pressure or being forced”, thanking voters for supporting the CPP.
A CPP spokesman told AFP this week the party is expected to take all 125
parliamentary seats across the country. Official results are expected on
August 15.
The flawed election prompted swift criticism from the European Union, which
said the vote “lacks credibility”. The United States threatened to broaden
visa restrictions on senior Cambodian officials.
Cambodia’s key ally China, which has provided cash and soft loans to Hun
Sen’s government while remaining silent on human rights abuses and democracy,
offered its “sincere congratulations” on the poll.
The former head of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) —
which was dissolved by the country’s Supreme Court last year — refused to
accept the results and said voters had been intimidated into supporting Hun
Sen.
“A victory without a contest is a hollow one,” Sam Rainsy, who lives in
self-exile in France, said on Facebook Monday.
Rainsy’s CNRP clinched 44 percent of the vote in the last national
elections, the most serious challenge in years to Hun Sen since he rose to
power in 1985.
The 65-year-old premier is seen as a stabilising force in a kingdom haunted
by a bloody civil war.
He has curried favour with ambitious infrastructure projects and patronage
among employees of Cambodia’s important garment industry, whom he showered
with gift and cash in the months leading up to the election.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1156 hrs