Cambodia’s Supreme Court Dissolves Opposition Party

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed the government’s support for the Supreme Court’s ruling in a television broadcast. (Wikimedia Commons)

In a unanimous decision, the nine members of Cambodia’s Supreme Court voted to dissolve the country’s main opposition party, the Cambodian Rescue Party (CNRP), on November 16. They also banned 118 of the CNRP’s senior officials from participating in politics for the next five years, including Kem Sokha, its president, and Sam Rainsy, Sokha’s predecessor.

The verdict came as a response to a case brought on by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and two minor political parties. In early October, the Ministry of the Interior lodged an official complaint with the Supreme Court against the CNRP on the petitioners’ behalf. They charged the CNRP with conspiring with the United States and plotting to incite a “color revolution” in an attempt to overthrow the government.

Following the ruling, Prime Minister Hun Sen appeared in a television broadcast to express the government’s support for the Supreme Court’s decision, stating that it was based firmly on “the principle of rule of law.”

Sen also reiterated his offer for CNRP officials to defect and join the CPP. Otherwise, in less than two weeks, the CNRP will lose all of its 55 seats in the National Assembly, Cambodia’s lower house of Parliament. The party’s 489 commune chiefs will lose their positions as well. 

Based on a new amendment to the country’s election laws, the majority of these seats will be redistributed to CPP and Funcinpec members, despite the fact that the latter party received just 3.66 percent of the popular vote in 2013. In contrast, the CNRP won over 40 percent of the vote both in 2013 and 2016 June elections.

In his address, Sen also affirmed his commitment to protecting a democratic government in Cambodia. “We will still strongly adhere to democracy at the national and sub-national level,” he said.

Nonetheless, many international observers see the ruling as a sign of Cambodia’s transformation into a de facto one-party state. The Human Rights Watch warned that dissolving the CNRP would “delegitimize” Cambodia’s upcoming national elections in July 2018. 

“Democracy died in Cambodia today,” said Brad Adams, the executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division. 

While announcing the verdict, the Supreme Court’s presiding judge, Dith Munty, maintained that the ruling was final and not open to appeal. However, Eng Chhay Eang, the CNRP’s deputy president, revealed that the party may attempt to bypass Cambodia’s judiciary and appeal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to reverse the decision instead. 

“We have no faith in Cambodian courts, as Hun Sen is above all of them,” Eng said. “Instead, we will consult with legal experts on the possibility of bringing this case to the attention of the ICC.”