Franchise registrations in Saudi Arabia surge 866% over 3 years    Lulu Saudi Arabia celebrates its 15th anniversary with the grand launch of 'Super Fest 2024'    Cristiano Ronaldo's double powers Al Nassr to 3-1 win over Al Gharafa in AFC Champions League    Culture minister tours Saudi pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka    Al Ahli edges Al Ain 2-1, bolsters perfect start in AFC Champions League Elite    Saud Abdulhamid makes history as first Saudi player in Serie A    Saudi Cabinet to hold special budget session on Tuesday    King Salman orders extension of Citizen's Account Program and additional support for a full year    Al-Falih: 1,238 foreign investors obtain premium residency in Saudi Arabia    Several dead as Storm Bert wreaks havoc across Britain    Irish PM apologizes for walking away from care worker    Most decorated Australian Olympian McKeon retires    Adele doesn't know when she'll perform again after tearful Vegas goodbye    'Pregnant' for 15 months: Inside the 'miracle' pregnancy scam    Hezbollah fires rocket barrages into Israel after deadly Beirut strikes    Ukraine losing ground in Russia's Kursk region, says military source    Do cigarettes belong in a museum?    Saudi Arabia to host 28th Annual World Investment Conference in Riyadh    Riyadh Emir inaugurates International Conference on Conjoined Twins in Riyadh    Katy Perry v Katie Perry: Singer wins right to use name in Australia    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Cambodia election: Polls open in vote with no credible opposition
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 23 - 07 - 2023

Voting is under way in Cambodia, where the country's long-term leader is virtually certain to extend his party's rule in an election where there are no serious challengers.
People turning up to the polls in Phnom Penh told the BBC they expected the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) to sweep all 125 seats in parliament again.
Hun Sen, who has been in power for 38 years, faces no real challenge after the only credible opposition party was disqualified in May.
Critics have called the vote a sham. "It's a rigged election because there are no real strong opposition parties," one voter, an aid worker in Phnom Penh, told the BBC earlier this week.
Western nations, including the US, have also expressed concerns about the integrity of the vote. To ensure the highest possible turnout when people are being offered no real choice, the government has criminalized any attempt to boycott the election or spoil the ballot papers.
Opposition lawmakers this year have reported violent attacks, with Human Rights Watch reporting the government stepped up intimidation and arbitrary arrests of political opposition in the run-up to the poll.
In May, the government barred the country's main opposition party, the Candlelight Party, on a technicality. The National Election Commission said the party was missing paperwork, which it had not needed for the local elections last year.
Candlelight had won 22% of the vote in local elections last year — and analysts said Hun Sen saw them as a potential threat to his rule.
But the poll comes as Hun Sen, who cast his vote in the capital early on Sunday morning, shows the clearest signals yet that he's planning to hand power to his eldest son, Hun Manet — possibly within weeks. The military chief has led the CPP's campaign alongside his father.
Hun Sen has become increasingly authoritarian in his rule, political analysts say.
Earlier this year, leading opposition figure Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years prison on alleged treason charges, and key news outlet Voice of Democracy shut down.
It is the second election in a row where Hun Sen has targeted democratic institutions and crippled the opposition before voting day, analysts say.
In 2018, his Cambodian People's Party won every single seat in the 125-seat National Assembly after the main opposition alliance was dissolved by the politically controlled courts.
Seventeen other parties are participating in this year's election, but almost all are too small, new or are aligned with the ruling party to be considered credible challengers.
The vote comes at an uncertain time for Cambodia's economy - with locals reporting struggles with rising fuel prices, stagnant wages and growing debts.
While Hun Sen is campaigning for re-election, he has flagged that this may be his last term. In 2021, he said would hand over control to his eldest son who currently commands the Royal Cambodian Army.
Han Manet is a first-time candidate for a parliament seat this election and led the final day of party rallies in Phnom Penh on Friday.
No timeframe had been given for the transition of power until Thursday, when Hun Sen signaled his son "could be" prime minister in three or four weeks.
Hun Sen's party has won all six of the national elections held every five years since the 1990s, when the UN helped the Southeast Asian nation of 16 million people become a functioning democracy post decades of civil war and the murderous Khmer Rouge regime.
Over four decades, he has consolidated power through control of the military, police and moneyed interests. Observers say he has dispatched opponents through co-opting, jailing or exiling them. — BBC


Clic here to read the story from its source.