Cambodia’s Exiled Opposition Figure Urges International Community to Reject Election Results

Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy delivers a speech to members of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) at a hotel in metro Manila, Philippines, on June 29, 2016. (Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)

An exiled former Cambodian opposition leader has urged the international community to reject the results of the country’s upcoming election, citing “systematic manipulation and falsification” by the Cambodian authorities.

Sam Rainsy, who co-founded the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), said Cambodia has only had one fair election since 1975—the United Nations-supervised election in 1993, which saw the defeat of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) led by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

“Unlike neighboring Malaysia, Thailand, and Myanmar, Cambodia has not had an independent electoral commission in the eyes of its democratic opposition since 1993,” Rainsy wrote in an article published in Nikkei Asia on May 9.

He said the opposition had reported “large-scale irregularities” following each subsequent election after the 1993 election and protested against the government, but they were “violently crushed” by the regime.

Rainsy said that his party would have won the 2013 election if not for anomalies in the electoral process. The CNRP received 44 percent of the votes in the 2013 legislative elections.

“International observers who intend to monitor the next election should be under no illusion that there is, in fact, anything to monitor,” he stated, referring to Cambodia’s upcoming election in July.

“They can achieve nothing beyond lending legitimacy to an electoral farce that, at best, distorts the popular will and, at worst, reverses it. This is the worst service that can be offered to the Cambodian people,” he added.

Rainsy has lived in exile in France since 2015 to avoid serving a prison sentence for multiple defamation charges. A court dissolved his CNRP party in 2017 after it was accused of plotting to topple Hun Sen’s government. Rainsy was sentenced to 25 years in jail in 2021.

In October last year, a court in France acquitted Rainsy of all charges in defamation cases brought by Hun Sen and a Cambodian top police official, Dy Vichea, who is also Hun Sen’s son-in-law.

Following Rainsy’s acquittal, Hun Sen vowed to “eliminate the extremist ideology of three-generation traitor” of the opposition figure in order to “preserve the country’s peace,” according to a local report.

‘Violent Rhetoric’

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on April 24 that Cambodia’s government had intensified attacks on political opposition members ahead of the July election.

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen arrives at the Independence Monument to attend celebrations marking the 65th anniversary of the country's independence from France, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Nov. 9, 2018. (Samrang Pring/Reuters)

The international group called for an end to “the government’s violent rhetoric” and the release of detained political activists. HRW urged authorities to investigate the recent assaults on opposition Candlelight Party members.

The liberal Candlelight Party is a reformed version of the Sam Rainsy Party, which also includes former CNRP members. The party has been the target of numerous attacks in Cambodia. In October 2022, a Candlelight Party supporter was reportedly shot dead by an unknown assailant in broad daylight.

HRW stated that some opposition party members had been assaulted and others were convicted “on politically motivated election forgery charges” after Hun Sen warned against criticizing his party on Jan. 9.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at HRW, said that Hun Sen is using “every repressive tool at his disposal” to rid Cambodia of any political opposition ahead of the July elections.

“Foreign governments should send a clear public message that dismantling opposition parties and disqualifying, assaulting, and arresting their members before election day means that there won’t be any real election at all,” Robertson said in a statement.

“Hun Sen should recognize that his campaign antics—from threatening speeches to political prosecutions—do little more than chisel his authoritarian legacy into stone,” he added.