Cambodia will hold an election later this month. Politicians from 20 parties will compete for 8.4 million votes. In Cambodia, as in many other parliamentarian governments, parties will need to obtain a minimum vote tally of 50 percent plus one vote to form a government.
By
KRIS RAZIANTO MADA
·3 minutes read
Amid international doubt on its democracy, Cambodia will hold an election later this month. Politicians from 20 parties will compete for 8.4 million votes. In Cambodia, as in many other parliamentarian governments, parties will need to obtain a minimum vote tally of 50 percent plus one vote to form a government.
In order to form a government and win the premiership, a party must obtain a minimum of 63 of 125 parliamentarian seats. The leader of the party that wins the election will become the prime minister. The Cambodian National Election Committee (NEC) has prepared 22,697 polling stations for the election on Sunday (29/7/2018).
“The election this year is better than in 2013. There are no [widespread] fears that led people to stock food, no bombings or other sabotages,” Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) spokesman Suos Yara said. The ruling party politician added that democracy in Cambodia was improving.
General election participants increased from eight parties in 2013 to 20 parties in 2018.
Minimal opposition
Despite the election in 2018 being contested by more parties than in 2013, many are doubting that fairness will be upheld, especially after the Cambodia National Rescue Party’s (CNRP) was dissolved in 2017. CNRP was one of two parties with parliamentarian seats following the 2013 election.
The court ruling to dissolve the CNRP led to its 55 seats being distributed among six other parties that had originally failed to pass the 2013 election’s parliamentary threshold of 6.5 percent. Of the six parties, the League for Democracy Party (LDP) and the Khmer Anti-Poverty Party (KAPP) refused to obtain the CNRP’s vacated seats. Consequently, the seats that had been allocated for them were given to the CPP.
As a result, the CPP ended up with 79 parliamentary seats. After the party was dissolved, CNRP chair Kem Sokhlak was imprisoned, reportedly for treason and cooperation with foreign agents. Another CNRP leader, Sam Rainsy, went into self-exile in France. CNRP executives were banned from entering politics until 2022.
Suos has openly called Sam Rainsy a criminal and bully. He accused the CNRP of exploiting populism. Cambodian democracy is different from European or Northern American democracy. The CPP believes that Cambodian democracy is similar to the doctrine of Asian democracy first introduced by former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. Lee said that democracy in Asia should be accompanied with local values.
Suos said that voters currently enjoyed more freedom and they were not in fear like they had been in 2013. Global observers will monitor voter turnout and the CPP has been making efforts to ensure that people go out and vote. On the other hand, through their social media accounts, Sam Rainsy and his supporters have been campaigning for the white vote. “There is the opinion that this is a fake election and that democracy is not working. All voices come from one source. We are transparent. We invite respected people to observe the election. Former presidents, former ministers, former heads of state – all respected people who will not sell out their integrity,” Rainsy said.
The NEC said that 155 international observers would be in Cambodia to follow the 2018 election. Some had arrived in the country on Thursday. Experts said that, without the CNRP, no party would be able to fight the CPP, which is led by Prime Minister Hun Sen. Having led Cambodia since 1985, Hun Sen is expected to remain in power after the 2018 election.