China congratulates Hun Sen as US imposes visa restrictions and halts some aid programs
Cambodian election officials count ballots at a polling station in Phnom Penh on July 23 during the general elections. The United States, the European Union and human rights groups have urged the international community not to recognize the results of the one-sided election. (Photo: AFP)
By Luke Hunt
China has congratulated Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen for his emphatic victory in a one-sided election that was labeled “neither free nor fair” by the United States as human rights groups urged the international community not to recognize the results.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said under Hun Sen Cambodia would “continue to achieve greater success in prosperity of the country, and well-being of the people, while contributing to regional peace, stability, development, and prosperity.”
“China and Cambodia are a community with a shared future,” he added, after Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) – which has ruled since a Vietnamese invasion ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979 – won 120 seats out of 125 contested in Sunday’s national poll.
The US Department of State announced it had taken steps to impose visa restrictions on individuals who undermined democracy and implemented a pause of certain foreign assistance programs saying “Cambodian national elections were neither free nor fair”.
“Ahead of the elections, Cambodian authorities engaged in a pattern of threats and harassment against the political opposition, media, and civil society that undermined the spirit of the country’s constitution and Cambodia’s international obligations,” it added.
“These actions denied the Cambodian people a voice and a choice in determining the future of their country.”
The European Union echoed those sentiments noting the polls were “conducted in a restricted political and civic space, where the opposition, civil society and the media were unable to function effectively without hindrance.”
“We regret that these elections excluded important sectors of the opposition, due to criminal convictions of political leaders and the disqualification of the main opposition party, the Candlelight Party, which was not allowed to register to take part in the vote,” it said in a statement.
Human rights groups were angered by the result, seen as a culmination of a seven-year crackdown on dissent, which includes the closure ofVoice of Democracy – among the last independent media outlets – and the jailing of political activists.
Former opposition leader Kem Sokha, trade unionist Chhim Sithar and American-Khmer lawyer Theary Seng, who also edits the Khmer version of the Bible, are among them. The US has also called for their release.
“Given all these blatant efforts to undermine free and fair polls, what happened yesterday in Cambodia can only be called ‘elections’ in the loosest sense of the word,” said Charles Santiago from the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights(APHR).
“In effect, it was yet another coronation for Hun Sen and his cronies.”
The International Commission of Jurists (IJC) had “grave concerns” about the judicial harassment of opposition supporters, mass convictions on spurious charges, weaponization of laws that are non-compliant with human rights law, acts of violence and incitement of violence.
“These types of so-called ‘elections’ have increasingly become the tools of authoritarian leaders to consolidate their power, undermining elections as one of the core pillars of democracy,” said APHR Board Member Eva Kusuma Sundari.
“The international community must not fall into the trap of legitimizing this pantomime.”
Hun Sen, 70, has announced he will stand aside after nominating his eldest son Hun Manet, 45, for his job as prime minister, which is expected on August 29 when the National Assembly is convened and a new government is sworn-in.
Asian Network for Free Elections noted that a clear bias of the NEC combined with a deteriorating political situation has compromised “the integrity and credibility of the electoral process” and New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Hun Sen of violating civil rights “every step of the way.”
“This entire election was a charade designed solely to give Hun Sen and the CPP a justification to say that they are democratic when in reality they are presiding over a deepening dictatorship,” said Phil Robertson, HRW Asia Deputy Director.
