Global Courant
PHNOM PENH – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen voted on Sunday as polls opened, AFP journalists said.
The 70-year-old former Khmer Rouge executive voted shortly after elections began in the capital Phnom Penh, but he faces no real contest in the vote, with opposition parties banned, challengers forced to flee and freedom of expression suppressed.
His Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) is likely to retain all 125 seats in the lower house, extending its hold on power and paving the way for a dynastic succession that some critics have likened to North Korean politics.
The only serious opposition party was disqualified ahead of the election due to a technical problem and it would be a surprise if one of the other 17 small, ill-funded parties win seats.
More than 9.7 million people have registered to vote in the seventh election since the United Nations first sponsored polls in 1993, after years of conflict — including the genocidal Khmer Rouge — left the country devastated.
Over the past 30 years, the international community’s hopes for vibrant multi-party democracy in Cambodia have been dashed by the colossal strength of Hun Sen’s rule.
The veteran prime minister is starting to look to the future and says he will hand over the reins to his son, four-star general Hun Manet – possibly even in the coming weeks.
The 45-year-old scion led the last CPP rally in Phnom Penh ahead of election day, telling a vociferous crowd on Friday that it was “victory day” for the country.
Critics disagree, and rights groups have condemned the upcoming election.
Ahead of the vote, a 17-member coalition – including the Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) – labeled the polls as of “profound concern”.
“The upcoming election exercise highlights a remarkable lack of transparency, fairness and inclusiveness in the electoral process,” the coalition said in a statement released Saturday.
Parties dissolved
The only real challenge to Hun Sen’s CPP came from the Candlelight Party (CP). But in May, the country’s electoral body refused to register it, rendering it unreadable to compete.
The decision came after the party performed better than expected in last year’s local elections, winning 22 percent of the vote.
Internationally, Hun Sen has played off tensions between the United States and China, raking in huge amounts of Chinese investment without demanding democratic reforms.
Ahead of the vote, the CP told AFP the registration decision meant there was no way the election could be free or fair.
“As for the results, everyone knows who will win,” said Rong Chhun, the party’s vice chairman.
In the run-up to the election, freedom of speech has been heavily curtailed, with one of the few remaining independent news outlets, Voice of Democracy, closing earlier this year.
And last month, Hun Sen ordered election laws changed, barring anyone who doesn’t vote in the upcoming poll from running for office — a move that will affect exiled rivals.
Among those challengers is old enemy Sam Rainsy, who has spent nearly a decade self-exiling in France to avoid criminal convictions he says are politically motivated.
Domestically, opposition leader Kem Sokha is languishing under house arrest after being sentenced to 27 years for treason over an alleged plot with foreigners to overthrow Hun Sen’s government.
‘I can’t judge’
In the days leading up to the polls, the capital Phnom Penh was filled with huge posters of Hun Sen.
But many now look to Hun Manet, educated in the United States and Britain, and wonder if a change in leadership could bring change to the country.
“For me, I want to see his work first and then I can evaluate,” a 73-year-old Cambodian told AFP.
“For now, I can’t judge anything at the moment,” he added, not mentioning his name.
The polls close at 3 p.m., with the first results expected within hours. AFP
