Cambodia elections: Anti-Vietnamese overtones deepen racial divide

[geovalin]

Cambodia's commune council elections, which are scheduled for 4 June 2017, are expected to assume anti-Vietnamese overtones and a dominant nationalistic colour, reports have said. Analysts believe that the country's racial equilibrium will be disturbed by this year's election and a general election in 2018.

"Marginalised ethnic Vietnamese could easily become a convenient political football in the coming elections. The opposition has already started playing the anti-Vietnam card, appealing to widespread anti-Vietnamese sentiment in the country," said John Coughlan, a researcher on Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from Amnesty International, as reported by Channel News Asia.
Communal unrest

Vietnamese, in the Southeast Asian nation, are being targeted for quite some time now. In January, the opposition party, Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), claimed that at least 2,500 foreigners, mainly from Vietnam, have used illegal means to get registered to vote in the upcoming polls. However, due to lack of evidence, National Election Committee dismissed the claim and also rejected the party's request to remove the foreigners' names from the provisional voter's list.

 

read more http://www.ibtimes.sg/cambodia-elections-anti-vietnamese-overtones-deepen-racial-divide-7126

 

[Emster23]

looks like memory of who rescued Cambodia from Khmer Rouge has faded.

[bkkgriz]

Racial divide? Aren't Vietnamese and Cambodians both of the Asian race? Maybe the headline meant to say ethnic divide.