Cambodians vote Sunday in local elections that are their first chance to go to the polls since the ruling party of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen swept a 2018 general election that was widely criticized as unfair.
Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party is certain to sail to easy victory again following what the U.N. Human Rights Office charged Thursday was a pattern of “threats, intimidation and obstruction targeting opposition candidates.”
The agency said Candidates have faced numerous restrictions and reprisals that have hindered their activities, with imprisonment of a number of candidates that appears designed to curb political campaigning.
It added that at least six opposition candidates and activists were in detention four days before the polls, awaiting trial, while others summonsed on politically motivated charges had gone into hiding.
Cambodia’s delegation at the U.N. Geneva offices said in a statement that the criticism was “erroneous, politicized and selective.” It said “all political parties, including opposition ones, have fully exercised their rights in line with the laws and registered schedules without any threats and obstruction.”
Hun Sen, an authoritarian ruler in a nominally democratic state, has held power for 37 years. He has said he intends to stay in office until 2028 and has endorsed one of his sons to succeed him.
His party is the only one to field candidates nationwide in all 1,652 communes. Its only serious rival, the Candlelight Party, has candidates in 1,632 communes, and the royalist FUNCINPEC Party has challengers in 688 communes.
There are a total of 82,786 candidates from 17 political parties with 9.2 million registered voters.
The local elections are held a year ahead of the general election, and are regarded as a test of the parties’ strength.
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