Cambodian leader Hun Sen’s eldest son and chosen successor hailed “victory day” in a final rambunctious rally Friday, ahead of one-sided elections that his father’s ruling party is guaranteed to win.
One of the world’s longest-serving rulers, Hun Sen has played off tensions between the United States and China to buttress his grip on power, although critics say that more than 30 years after UN-brokered peace accords ended decades of bloody conflict, Cambodian democracy is in a sorry state.
A crowd of tens of thousands of supporters on motorbikes, dressed in bright blue, gathered under grey skies in the early morning to hear Hun Manet’s speech before he roared off in a huge celebratory motorcade parade around the capital Phnom Penh.
It was the final rally before Sunday’s election, which has seen all meaningful opposition either disqualified or exiled, leaving voters no choice but to hand Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) a majority in the 125-member parliament.
“Today is a victory day for us,” Hun Manet said under a giant poster of his father, urging supporters to vote for the ruling party.
“Only the CPP has the ability to lead Cambodia.”
“We will promote the national pride of our nation to the heights of the Angkor era,” he said as rain began falling on the crowd, invoking the heyday of the Khmer empire, a dominant force in Southeast Asia from the ninth to the 14th century.
Hun Manet, commander of the Royal Cambodian Army and eldest son of Prime Minister Hun Sen, gestures during a campaign rally in Phnom Penh on July 21.//AFP
Hun Sen has also steered the country closer to China — collecting copious foreign investment, which has come with no inconvenient demands for rights reforms or greater democratic freedoms.
International observers have condemned the upcoming election’s lack of any real opposition.
The Candlelight Party, the CPP’s only credible rival, was barred from running over registration technicalities, a ruling that Amnesty International said Friday “amounted to a politically motivated decision”.
– Fading hope –
“When the Candlelight Party cannot participate in the election, it is not going to be free and fair,” Rong Chhun, vice-president of the party, told AFP.
Without the Candlelight Party, voters had no choice but to back Hun Sen’s ruling party, he said.
“Our hope for a real democracy is fading away,” opposition supporter Vanna, 30, told AFP at a cafe.
He declined to give his full name, one of many ordinary citizens who are increasingly nervous about criticising the government.
“I think it is another very unfair election.”
The CPP’s campaigning — and the tiny presence of small, poorly funded opposition parties — was a weak smokescreen allowing Hun Sen to claim the election was legitimate, said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch.
“When in reality he’s done everything possible to make sure he faces no real opposition whatsoever,” Robertson said.
Critics say Hun Sen’s 38-year rule has been shadowed by environmental destruction, entrenched corruption and uneven economic growth — with the country now a byword for the global online scamming industry.
But in recent years, the 70-year-old leader has begun to look to his legacy, wishing to cement control before handing over to Hun Manet.
– The best candidate? –
The Cambodian princeling, educated in the United States and Britain, has become more of a presence as his father begins to pull back.
At Friday’s rally, supporters with stickers on their cheeks expressed hope for Hun Manet’s leadership.
“I believe that he will not mistreat our people, and he will find whatever may be prosperous for Cambodia,” Chin Chhivleap, 34, told AFP.
“For me, Hun Manet is the best candidate for prime minister because I don’t see anybody else better than him.”
Speaking under the shadow of construction cranes as a pony ridden by a supporter clopped by, supporters said his education abroad would improve Cambodia.
But analysts are sceptical of any real changes under the 42-year-old, whenever he may take over — with Hun Sen reassuring voters he would continue guiding him.
“The best case scenario is that a Hun Manet administration will permit a cowed opposition party like the Candlelight Party to participate in elections, without any real chance of winning,” Sebastian Strangio, author of a book about Hun Sen’s rule, told AFP.
“The future for the Cambodian opposition is dim.”
by AFP
