Pro-government Cambodian lawmakers have unanimously approved amendments to the country’s election law.
The amended law prohibits anyone who fails to vote from running as a candidate in future elections, a decision critics claim is aimed at crippling the opposition’s chances in the polls.
The measure was approved on Friday, June 23, 2023, with minimal debate by all 111 lawmakers present in the National Assembly. All members of the assembly belong to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party.
Hun Sen, who has held the office for 38 years, pronounced last week that the law would be amended ahead of July’s general election to compel candidates for public office to prove their civic responsibility. The amended law will take effect after approval by the Senate, which is a mere formality.
Under the amended election law, prospective candidates must have voted in at least two elections to qualify as a candidate in elections at the commune, district, municipality, provincial and national levels.
The amended law would also discourage an election boycott by placing opposition figures who wish to contest future polls in the awkward position of appearing to be hypocrites if they urge people not to vote while they themselves cast ballots.
It will also discourage boycotts by allowing the election committee to impose a fine of 5 million-20 million riels ($1,200-$4,800) on anyone who encourages people not to register or vote.
Anyone who incites people to use threats or violence against candidates or political party officials can also be fined and disqualified as candidates for five years. Political parties that fail to remove disqualified candidates can be fined 10 million-30 million riels ($2,420-$7,270).
Latest Tactic To Marginalize Political Opponents
Hun Sen’s critics claim that the amendments to the election law is his latest tactic to marginalize his political opponents, some of whom are considering an election boycott.
Prominent opposition figures are in self-imposed exile to avoid being jailed on various charges which they say are unfair and the amendment would prevent them from running in future polls without any further action needed to restrict them. Opposition figures still inside the country who fail to vote would face the same consequences.
Hun Sen announced the plan less than a month after the country’s main opposition party was barred from participating in the polls because it could not provide all of the paperwork required for registering.
The National Election Committee requested one document, which according to the Candlelight Party was unavailable since it had already been taken by the police during a raid several years prior.
Cambodia’s Constitutional Council refused to overturn the election committee’s decision not to register the Candlelight party, drawing widespread criticism that the election would not be fair without the party’s participation.
That action against the Candlelight Party was similar to what happened ahead of the 2018 general election, when the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party posed a serious challenge to Hun Sen’s party. It was dissolved months ahead of the polls by a controversial court ruling which alleged that the party had plotted the illegal overthrow of the government. The party’s dissolution enabled Hun Sen’s party to win all the seats in the National Assembly.
Hun Sen, 70, is an authoritarian ruler in a state that is supposedly democratic. Already one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, he is aiming to extend his rule before passing the leadership on to his son Hun Manet.
Hun Sen and his party hold all the advantages of incumbency in the election in terms of political organizing, personnel, finances and media influence.
