The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh marked the first anniversary Tuesday of national elections conducted under a ban of Cambodia’s main opposition party with a statement calling the vote “deeply flawed” and urging Hun Sen’s regime to “take tangible actions to restore democracy.”
In the July 2018 election, Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won more than 75% of the vote and claimed all of the seats in Cambodia’s National Assembly. The international community and domestic rights groups widely regarded it as a sham election as the main opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) had been banned the previous year.
“That vote was neither free nor fair, and it failed to represent the will of the Cambodian people. The elections excluded the country’s principle opposition party and further eroded the country’s achievements in promoting political reconciliation and economic growth since the 1991 Paris Peace Accords,” the embassy said.
In full: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/cambodia-election-one-year-anniversary-07302019170142.html
