Cambodia’s authoritarian leader has warned voters who destroyed their ballots to turn themselves in or face legal consequences, as he claimed victory after running virtually uncontested in a one-sided election.
Hun Sen, 70, who has governed for almost four decades, said in a Telegram post on Sunday night that unofficial results showed his party had won 120 seats and a royalist party had won five.
There had been little doubt over the outcome of the vote, given that the only opposition party big enough to pose a threat, the Candlelight party, was barred from running after it was accused of not submitting the correct paperwork.
A crackdown on opposition voices ahead of the vote, which also included legal challenges to prevent voter boycotts, left spoiled ballots as one of the only remaining outlets for people to protest against the regime.
“We’ve won in a landslide … but we can’t calculate the number of seats yet,” said Sok Eysan, spokesperson for the Cambodian People’s party (CPP).
Hun Sen, Asia’s longest-running leader, said a turnout of 84% in Sunday’s election demonstrated that attempts by the “extremist” opposition to undermine the vote had failed. He is now expected to hand over power to his eldest son and anointed successor, Hun Manet.
Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said that Hun Sen was “finally and fully wiping out the remnants of Cambodian democracy in favour of hereditary dictatorship that looks like it’s right out of the North Korean playbook”.
“From day one, there was no chance this poll would ever be free or fair considering that the succession of Hun Sen to his son, Gen Hun Manet, is at stake, but the government is taking no chances,” Robertson added.
In comments shared on social media later on Sunday, Hun Sen said they were waiting to see how many ballots were spoiled. “Any ballot that is destroyed [is a sign of] support for the CDL [the Candlelight party],” he said. “Those who show the ballots being destroyed can confess with the authorities […] because this movement of destroying the ballots shall face legal action,” he said.
Dr Nee Maes, a political commentator, said prior to the election that people may feel cultural or social pressure to vote, adding that some employers would check whether their staff had voted: “After election day, they have to show their finger [with] the ink,” he said.
Hun Manet, who graduated from the US military academy at West Point, as well as New York University and the University of Bristol, has been endorsed by the ruling CPP as the “future prime minister”. On Friday, Hun Sen said his son could take over in three or four weeks.
Analysts say there is little indication that, when in office, Hun Manet’s approach to governance will differ greatly from his father, who has little tolerance for dissent and has built close ties with China. On the campaign trail and on social media, his speeches have been similar in style to those of Hun Sen.
Chamroeun, a student in Phnom Penh, who spoke to the Guardian ahead of the vote, said he wanted reforms to bring equal access to justice, public services and better education.
Asked whether he felt Manet would bring such change, he said: “When we look at his qualifications and his characteristics, he is qualified to be prime minister, but if there is no competition and it’s an arrangement – I have nothing to say.”
The EU, US and other western countries did not send observers to Sunday’s election, saying it lacked the conditions to be considered free and fair. Instead, observers from Russia, China and Guinea-Bissau watched as Hun Sun voted at a polling station in his home district outside the capital, Phnom Penh, Associated Press reported.
A coalition of 17 election watchdog and human rights groups – including the Asian Network for Free Elections and the International Federation for Human Rights – said in a joint statement that they had “profound concern” over the polls.
In the run-up to the election, opposition figures and activists were arrested, harassed, beaten in the streets and forced into exile, in what right groups say were politically motivated attacks. The government has denied that it is intimidating its opponents.
Access to independent media has also been restricted, with one of the country’s last remaining independent media outlets, Voice of Democracy, shut down earlier this year.
Rong Chhun, vice-president of the Candlelight party, said last week that the space for freedom of expression and freedom of media in Cambodia was shrinking.
Explaining why he continues in politics, despite the personal risks, he added: “We want the country to have a democratic society, rule of law and respect for human rights. So we have to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of real democracy.”
About 9.7 million Cambodians were registered to vote to elect members of the 125-seat National Assembly.
Hun Sen posted on his Telegram channel late on Sunday that unofficial results compiled by authorities in each province showed his party, the Cambodian People’s Party, won 120 seats and the royalist FUNCINPEC party won five.
