PHNOM PENH
\nCambodia\u2019s parliament voted unanimously to amend an election law on Friday to penalize anyone who boycotts next month\u2019s poll, which critics have said will be a sham because of Prime Minister Hun Sen\u2019s efforts to stamp out all opposition.
\nHun Sen, who has held power in Cambodia for more than three decades, last week ordered the rubber-stamp parliament to revise the law so that anyone who does not vote in the general election on July 23 will be barred from contesting any future elections.
\n\u201c… Individuals wishing to stand for election must participate in voting events prior to their mandate,\u201d Sar Kheng, deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, said in a statement posted on his official Facebook page after the vote in parliament.
\n\u201cThe amendments impose fines and punish individuals who disrupt and obstruct the voter registration process…(and) the election,\u201d he added.
\nAt the last election in 2018, the Hun Sen\u2019s Cambodian People\u2019s Party (CPP) won all of the parliamentary seats, having scored 4.8 million votes out of the 6.9 million cast.
\nThere have been no overt calls for an election boycott but critics have expressed alarm over what they see as a campaign of intimidation and public threats by Hun Sen and the CPP ahead of an election they are certain to dominate.
\n\u201cThis really shows that this is a dictatorship that is playing in the democracy game,\u201d Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said, adding that \u201ccivil rights and political liberty have been completely, totally restricted by Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government.\u201d
\nHun Sen\u2019s administration has denied targeting opponents and says it is enforcing the law.
\nThe election commission said earlier this month that anyone urging people not to vote would be fined or imprisoned.
\nThe CPP will run virtually unopposed next month, after the election commission disqualified the sole opposition Candlelight Party from running, citing improper paperwork.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PHNOM PENH Cambodia\u2019s parliament voted unanimously to amend an election law on Friday to penalize anyone who boycotts next month\u2019s poll, which critics have said will be a sham because of Prime Minister Hun Sen\u2019s efforts to stamp out all opposition. Hun Sen, who has held power in Cambodia for more than three decades, last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-339598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n