Cambodia prepares to lift bans on political opposition figures after international backlash over elections
- The legislature’s action would allow the 118 top members of the CNRP to apply to have their bans lifted
- However, there would be conditions for restoring political rights that some opposition politicians have already rejected
Cambodia’s Parliament passed legislation on Thursday that could allow a five-year ban on political activity by some top opposition politicians to be lifted.
The action was the latest in a low-key charm offensive to improve relations with Western nations that accuse Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government of suppressing human and democratic rights. The US and Germany have already instituted some diplomatic sanctions against Cambodia, and Washington and the European Union have threatened to extend economic ones as well.
The main point of contention has been this past July’s general election, which critics charge was neither free nor fair because the only credible opposition party had been dissolved and its candidates barred from politics. The late-2017 dissolution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) by court order was generally seen as a move to ensure an election victory by Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
The legislature’s action would allow the 118 top members of the CNRP to apply to have their bans lifted.
However, there would be conditions for restoring political rights that some opposition politicians have already rejected.
Hun Sen, at a meeting Wednesday with garment workers, said the ban would be rescinded only for those politicians who had honoured it, while those who violated it could face a prison term.