Cambodia’s Sam Rainsy barred from running for office for 25 years

The opposition figurehead has in recent days called on Cambodian voters to void their votes when they go to polling stations on Sunday

Rainsy, who has lived in self-exile in France since 2015, was also fined US$5,000 for ‘being the ringleader’ in inciting voters to spoil ballots

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Cambodian opposition figurehead Sam Rainsy speaks to the media in Kuala Lumpur in 2019. He has lived in France since 2015 to avoid jail on a number of convictions he says are politically motivated. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:03pm, 18 Jul 2023

Cambodia has banned exiled opposition figurehead Sam Rainsy from running for office for 25 years after he urged people to spoil their ballots at this weekend’s general election.

Sixteen other senior opposition members and activists – who are in self-exile – were also removed from voting lists, banned from running for office for 20 years and fined US$2,500 each, according to documents released on Monday by the National Election Committee (NEC).

Voters head to the polls on Sunday, with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party running almost unopposed after its main challenger was barred from contesting on a technicality.

Recent law amendments, ordered by Hun Sen to counter calls for a poll boycott by opposition activists, ban anyone who does not vote in the coming elections from running in future elections.

Hun Sen (left) poses with his son Hun Manet during a ceremony at a military base in Phnom Penh in 2009. Cambodia’s prime minister, who has ruled over the country for nearly four decades, is expected to pass on the leadership to his son in future. Photo AFP

It is also illegal to obstruct the voting process or call for voters to spoil ballots.

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