Voting for Cambodia’s Senate began on Sunday in an election decried by critics as a “farce”, with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party set to dominate months after the country’s only viable opposition party was dissolved.
Last year, the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party was disbanded in a court ruling not long after its leader Kem Sokha was arrested on treason charges.
Though the Senate vote arouses little interest in Cambodia because the upper house is seen as a rubber-stamp body and candidates are elected by other officials rather than the public, the result is a clear prelude to the national poll set for July.
“We expect to win overwhelmingly,” CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said, brushing off claims that the election is undemocratic. “CPP is regretful that we lost a main challenger but we cannot help [the CNRP] because they violated the law.”
Most the 62-seat Senate body is elected by thousands of local commune councillors and members of the National Assembly.
But the opposition CNRP will have no say as its parliamentary and commune seats were redistributed to other parties following the dissolution in November.