Peace Is on Cambodia’s Ballot, However Voters Define It

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PHNOM PENH/SIEM REAP — Everywhere you look in Cambodia’s capital are signs of the top two leaders of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) with the slogan “Thank You, Peace.” The same signs show up on highways and street corners across the country. It’s a message that floods the Facebook page of Prime Minister Hun Sen, one of the longest-ruling leaders in the world.

 

“Peace provides opportunity for people to live in a prosperous society. When there is peace, there is everything – all lives flourish, politically, economically, socially, and culturally, with peace,” said Sok Eysan, a ruling party senator and spokesman.
 

Yet this prosperity and opportunity is not accessible to many in Cambodia, and this year’s election — despite the kneecapping of Hun Sen’s opposition — will offer some insight into how thankful Cambodian voters are for the ruling party’s version of “peace.”

 

Hun Sen boasts of ending war and bringing economic stability to the country, but his government also has a well-recorded track record of violating human rights, silencing dissent and shuttering independent media.

A Cambodian People's Party's sign displays an image of the top two leaders, Heng Samrin (left) and prime minister Hun Sen (right), at the party's headquarter in Phnom Penh, on Monday, March 20, 2023. (Ten Soksreinith/VOA Khmer)

“We want a livable wage, as citizens of this country that is so proud of peace!” said Nam Sivonn, a former employee of the NagaWorld casino and resort in Phnom Penh, where unions accuse officials of complicity in union busting and cracking down on peaceful protests.

“So then allow your workers to have peace and provide them with a livable income.”
Nam Sivonn was among the 1,329 employees who were laid off in April 2021, a move the company argued was due to a loss of profit during the pandemic, while the workers called it brazen retaliation against demands for better benefits from the union led by Chhim Sithor, who remains jailed and awaiting trial on criminal charges.

Chan Sreyrath, who has also joined the NagaWorld protests that began in December 2021, asked why the prime minister — often referred to by his honorific “Samdech” — had not demanded peace for workers at the casino not far from his Phnom Penh residence.

“Every issue circulating on social media, Samdech knows and gets involved. Why doesn’t Samdech take any actions when it comes to our problem? Don’t you really know? Or you just pretend you don’t know?” she asked.

Come July, Nam Sivonn and more than 9 million eligible voters in Cambodia will have their opportunity to convey their dismay or approval when the country holds its seventh national election, on July 23, 2023 — 30 years since the first post-war election in 1993.

“We are all going to vote. We are not afraid to choose anyone who has the willingness to find a solution to our problem. We’ll vote for you, regardless of our political tendency,” said Nam Sivonn.

Unionized workers — particularly in Cambodia’s garment sector — were a key voting block to the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party’s (CNRP) success in 2013, when it narrowly lost to the ruling CPP.

The ruling party has aggressively pursued a two-pronged strategy in the decade since — closing down the space for opposition and dissent, while increasing engagement with young Cambodians who make up an ever-growing share of the electorate.

The CNRP has been banned, and in its place are a handful of small opposition parties with familiar faces, but without their leaders, Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, who are in exile and under house arrest, respectively.

In June last year, after five years of absolute control at the commune level, prime minister Hun Sen’s CPP was challenged by the Candlelight Party, an offshoot of the CNRP, which won about 22% of the popular votes and 2,176 commune council seats after campaigning on issues of social injustice, corruption, and abuse of power.

While the Candlelight Party is not expected to pose a serious challenge to the CPP this year — if it’s allowed to compete at all — its vote share could offer an indication of whether it is gaining traction or losing momentum. And a few seats in the National Assembly could provide a national platform the opposition currently lacks.

Ou Virak, found of the Future Forum think tank, said he sees the Candlelight Party as a “temporary vehicle” for the opposition that’s likely to disappoint its supporters in the upcoming election. “They can’t pull it off. Then they’re going to lose momentum,” he said.

However, he also said that the ruling party’s formula for “peace” at all costs created its own complications.
“The question is actually when you are trying to force peace at all costs, even without justice, even facing injustice that people must accept it — I think it is going to be problematic,” he said.

 

read more (very long article)  https://www.voacambodia.com/a/peace-is-on-cambodia-s-ballot-however-voters-define-it/7012963.html