Cambodia just had a major election, but there wasn’t much suspense involved.
The outcome, as expected, was declared a win for authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen,
who has been in power for over 33 years.
This was the 6th general election since the UN sponsored the country’s free and fair
vote in 1993, but some analysts say that the more elections that have been held, the more
authoritarian the country has become.
Journalists and human rights groups say Cambodia is sliding into a full-fledged dictatorship.
And we spoke to an expert on authoritarian regimes and democratization in Southeast Asia
who says the country is already there.
Hi guys, I’m Versha, this is NowThis World, and on this episode we’re exploring the
question: how did Cambodia get here?
Before we look at these latest elections, we need to understand who Hun Sen is.
The world’s longest currently-serving Prime Minister first came to power in 1985, but
was a political figure in the country years before that.
A series of twists and turns in the Cambodian power structure eventually landed him in the
right place at the right time.
In the early ‘70s, a young Hun Sen joined the forces of the communist insurgency movement,
the Khmer Rouge, and quickly moved up the ranks to commander, leading hundreds and thousands
of men in military offenses against the pro-U.S. Khmer Republic in the years leading up to
the Khmer Rouge’s takeover of the capital city, Phnom Penh.
Cambodia then spent four years in the mid-‘70s, embroiled in the Khmer Rouge regime, whose
brutal crackdowns resulted in the deaths of an estimated two million people, including
hundreds of thousands of mostly-Muslim Cham people.This is considered to be one of the
worst mass killings of the 20th century.
Hun Sen has denied taking part in the human rights abuses committed by the Khmer Rouge.
He defected to Vietnam in 1977, allegedly out of fear of retribution from the government
for not taking part in the mass killings.
Vietnam invaded Cambodia two years later, overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime and instituted
a new government, the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, or PRK.
Hun Sen’s connection and perceived loyalty to Vietnam led to his appointment as foreign
minister in the PRK, and then, by age 32, Prime Minister.
But under the police state of the Communist PRK, human rights abuses continued.
Security forces suppressed opposition groups and tortured and interrogated detainees.
Lee Morgenbesser, whose research examines flawed elections and dictators in Southeast
Asia, broke it down for us.
“You had four warring factions, you had an outbreak of disease, poverty, starvation,
a lot of very terrible conditions.”
Eventually, the international community stepped in to oversee a peace agreement, with the
goal of setting Cambodia on a path to democracy.
This led to the 1993 so-called ‘free and fair’ elections.
Those elections didn’t turn out so well for Hun Sen. His party, the Cambodian People’s
Party, or CPP, didn’t win the majority of seats.
But he refused to accept the result, and forced a negotiation with the Funcinpec Party to
become second Prime Minister.
In 1997, he orchestrated a coup to consolidate power, and has single-handedly ruled as PM
ever since.
His official title in Khmer translates to ‘princely exalted supreme great commander
of gloriously victorious troops.’
And starting in 2016, all media were ordered to use this full title.
As it stands, Transparency International ranks Cambodia the third most corrupt country in
Asia.
But how could a country with constitution-mandated general elections every five years be so corrupt?
It has a lot to do with who’s running in them.
Though no fewer than 20 registered parties competed in the recent election, it’s wasn’t
really a competition.
Hun Sen has denied this, but these parties are known locally as ‘firefly’ parties
for a reason.
They pop up briefly during election season, then fade away again.
Many of these parties have been accused of ties to the government, or even being completely
fabricated.
Besides which, they have no time to develop infrastructure to mobilize supporters.
“You’ve got a party that’s been in power since 1979 competing against 20 minor parties
that have no significance, no influence on the political dynamics of the country, most
of them don’t even have a national presence.”
“They promote the idea of competition without the substance of it.”
He says the government is still using elections to uphold the facade of democracy, to help
Cambodia make a case for foreign aid, foreign direct investment, and membership in international
organizations.
But Hun Sen’s party essentially eliminated the only real opposition in November 2017
and imprisoned or exiled its leaders.
Many speculate that the party’s surprising success in the 2013 election was the driving
force behind this.
But even if these ‘firefly’ parties were well-established with adequate resources,
the actual process of voting still looks like this:
“Widespread irregularities with the elections, such as vote-buying, voter intimidation.”
“Literally handing out cash.
Literally teaching people how to tick the box for the Cambodia People’s Party.”
Even if opposition groups exist, it’s difficult for them to speak out without fear of retribution.
A recently-enacted lese-majeste law forbids people from insulting the monarchy, or risk
facing a fine and years of prison time.
And pressure from international bodies isn’t as strong as it has been historically.
Though the White House has recently reduced its financial assistance to Cambodia over
concerns about ‘setbacks to democracy,’ the current stakes
aren’t too high for the country.
“You have China backing Cambodia and the government, and then you have Donald Trump
in the White House who, quite frankly, doesn’t seem to care about the promotion of democracy
and security of human rights in Southeast Asia.”
And in the past year, the crackdown on human rights has escalated.
In addition to eliminating the major opposition party, major independent newspapers have been
forced to close, in order to silence critical reporting.
So, now that the CPP has taken another victory, what’s next for Hun Sen and the country?
Hun Sen has committed to staying Prime Minister for at least another decade, and he’s also
been grooming his sons to take over when the time comes.
But as the younger, more educated generation grows increasingly disillusioned with Hun
Sen’s authoritarian rule, could a mass protest reasonably overthrow
the government?