Just more than a kilometer from the Royal Palace, CPP banners stand proudly over the dirt tracks leading into the crowded, litter-strewn Tonle Bassac squatter community.
But few inside the makeshift village would disclose this week how they will vote Sunday. Many live in fear of repercussions from politicians.
The Tonle Bassac community burned down in November 2001, and the local government relocated the displaced residents without their consultation to Anlong Knang, an isolated site outside the capital where jobs are scarce. Many have since returned to the center of Phnom Penh, though they fear they may removed again after the election.
“Nobody here dares say what they are thinking,” said Anlong Knang returnee Chan Soeurn, 38, an egg seller who worries that her stay in Tonle Bassac will be “temporary.”
Thoung Sinh, 39, a cake seller, would not say who will get her vote for fear that other political parties might kill her.
She thought the result makes little difference anyway: “They never do what they promise.”
Thoung Sinh’s wish list for the winning party is long. She would like them to “find jobs, build houses, and supply clean water” to the impoverished community.
Perched on a pile of bamboo, Nhieu Ratana, 33, unemployed, would not reveal his political allegiances, for fear that other unnamed political parties would “shoot him to death.” He hopes for peace following the election, but “bad events can happen any time,” he said.
Chin Pao, 47, a construction worker, cannot vote because she forgot to register. She declined to say who she would vote for, adding that she “never gets information” about candidates.
Neither CPP nor Funcinpec officials will enter the slum, said motorcycle taxi driver and Anlong Knang returnee Sok Yoeurn, 55.
“They only visit places with good security,” he said.
Drug abuse and glue sniffing are widespread here, he added.
Of the main political parties, only Sam Rainsy is prepared to enter the run-down community, Sok Yoeurn said. The opposition leader, whose headquarters are nearby, has visited “many times without bodyguards,” Sok Yoeurn said. “[Sam Rainsy] didn’t show fear or discrimination.”
But not everyone here feels so warmly about the opposition leader. As he departed Tonle Bassac earlier this month, squatters in the same community hurled rocks at his entourage, injuring five people and damaging a car.
Sok Yoeurn fears the ruling CPP will move him again if re-elected. “Many times they want to move people from other places…. Most people here want to change the leader,” he said.
The opposition party would “solve problems for the people” instead of moving them, he said.
