Sunday’s election is expected to be at most a rubber stamp for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling dynasty.
of Cambodia there is no doubt about the outcome of Sunday’s election, although it is claimed to be free and fair. Prime minister Hun Sen will win and continue his reign that has lasted almost four decades.
The candidates of the only viable opposition party have been prevented from running, half of the members have been arrested and beaten in the streets. The fight against independent media has been going on for a long time, successfully: news sites and platforms have been closed.
Cambodia is ranked 147th in this year’s survey by Reporters Without Borders, which measures media freedom. Last year, the ranking was five notches better.
Former Khmer Rouge commander Hun Sen is one of the world’s longest-reigning leaders. Ahead of him are the CNN news channel by only the autocratic leaders of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
Hun Sen according to The Guardian magazine, is also preparing to transfer power to his son in a dynastic manner For Hun Manet. Hun Sen nominated his son as his successor already in 2021, and the Cambodian People’s Party, which leads the country, has already placed itself behind the decision.
If, or most likely when, Hun Manet wins a seat in parliament on Sunday, his path to the leadership of the state is almost certain.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s son Hun Manet at a campaign event in Phnom Penh on Friday. Hun Sen has already named his son as his successor.
The prime minister is by no means the only one whose relatives are running for office. At least 28 of the ruling party’s 125 candidates had independent Camboja media by kinship with another candidate. In the last election, there were only 11 similar cases, or about nine percent.
According to Camboja, the situation is highlighted especially for the minister, when the children of the fathers of the old guard are running in the elections.
According to the spokesperson of the ruling party, it is a pure coincidence and the candidates are selected based on their merits and suitability.
Sunday according to Al-Jazeera, a total of 18 parties are participating in the elections, but not a single representative of the real opposition.
The opposition’s activities have been hampered, for example, by passing laws that prohibit people from encouraging others not to vote. The government has also said that it intends to prosecute those who urge to vote absent.
The government, on the other hand, threatens the demonstrators with imprisonment. Hun Sen, on the other hand, bluntly warned people who might be planning to vote absent.
“Your activity is not anonymous. When you speak, your voices are carried to my ears.”
According to Al-Jazeera, the government’s repressive measures have led to the fact that people have only one way to protest: to stay quietly at home.
19 years old the prospective law student told Al-Jazeera that the government’s actions are “really wrong and ridiculous.” The longer they continue, the more normal they still seem to him.
“When you start seeing something like that happen over and over again, you get used to it very quickly.”
“I don’t really care [vaaleista]because I don’t think anything will change.”
Opposition politicians believe that the sentiment against the government’s actions has not disappeared anywhere. It’s just taken a back seat.
“It’s not that Cambodian youth don’t care about politics. They care about it, but they are losing hope,” said the Sam Rainsy Party, which was banned in May Phon Sophea For Al-Jazeera.
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