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CAMBODIA-POLITICS
Cambodian PM Hun Sen voted in by one-party parliament
PHNOM PENH, Sept 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Strongman Hun Sen was formally
installed as Cambodia’s prime minister for a new term on Thursday, after
securing all 125 seats in an uncontested vote that was derided
internationally.
The 66-year-old will preside over a new era of one-party rule in the
Southeast Asian nation after the election in July — criticised by Western
democracies as unfair — handed his ruling Cambodian People’s Party all 125
seats.
The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the only credible opposition,
was dissolved in the run-up to the vote with government dissenters and
activists arrested.
Parliament reconvened on Thursday for the formality of voting Hun Sen back
in as prime minister, extending his 33-year rule over the country by another
five years.
All 125 lawmakers voted by raising their hands to endorse members of Hun
Sen’s new government, which includes ministers from the previous term.
“Today is an important historical day of the Kingdom of Cambodia,” Hun Sen
told the parliament.
The US government has said the election was neither free nor fair and it
“failed to represent the will of the Cambodian people”.
But Hun Sen on Thursday insisted that the poll was “free, just, fair and
transparent”.
During his new term, he pledged to improve public services, the economy,
and boost salaries for garment workers and civil servants, and accused
opponents of “trying to veer Cambodia off the path of democracy and rule of
law”.
A former Khmer Rouge commander, Hun Sen has been seen by some as a
stabilising force that helped bring roads and mega-malls to a country ravaged
by decades of brutal civil war.
But analysts say there has been a rollback of democratic freedoms as civil
society, campaign groups and the press were squeezed in the run-up to this
year’s ballot.
Most notably, CNRP co-founder Kem Sokha was arrested under treason charges
in September, and remains detained despite multiple requests for bail.
On Thursday, CNRP rejected the new government and called July’s national
poll a “fake election”.
“The one-party parliament does not reflect the real will of the Cambodian
people,” it said in a statement.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1440 hrs