The Wall Street Journal
Young voters revolt against the Hun Sen government.
Cambodian politics entered a new era on Sunday after voters turned to
the opposition in surprising numbers. Though the economy is growing at a
7% clip and living standards are improving rapidly, a groundswell of
dissatisfaction over corruption and land seizures nearly toppled the
Cambodian People's Party (CPP) in the parliamentary election.
Optimists believe Prime Minister Hun
Sen, a canny leader after 28 years in power, will use his narrow victory
to clean house within the CPP and prepare for the newly competitive
environment. The cynics, of which there are many in this war-scarred
land, fear that the CPP will try to intimidate or silence opponents as
it has in the past.
International
election monitors have largely given up on poll watching in Cambodia,
and it's hard to blame them after irregularities in Sunday's election
emerged as they predicted. Transparency International Cambodia, one of
the two domestic election monitors, says that citizens arrived at 60% of
polling stations to find their names weren't on the register. Others
discovered somebody else had already voted in their name. Double
registrations were also common.
Almost all the districts around the
capital had more registered voters than residents, the Phnom Penh Post
reported, and according to the National Election Commission, the
government issued about half a million provisional identification
documents, which were supposed to be reserved for those who lost their
ID cards between registration and the election. Although the run-up to
this election was free of the killings that plagued previous campaigns,
Prime Minister Hun Sen warned of "civil war" if he lost.
Disenfranchised voters protested and
even rioted in a few areas Sunday night. The opposition also cried foul,
saying the election was stolen. Such claims can't be dismissed.
Transparency International Cambodia's figures showed the ruling
Cambodian People's Party took 48.5% of the popular vote and the
opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party 44.4%. TIC Executive Director
Kol Preap chose his words carefully on Monday: "This result does not
necessarily reflect the will of the Cambodian voters."
The opposition's large vote was all the
more remarkable because it has little access to the media and its
best-known leader, Sam Rainsy, was allowed to return from legal exile
only a few weeks ago. The opposition resurgence is due largely to a
younger generation who refuse to be cowed or bought off. The one-third
of the electorate under the age of 30 has no memory of the Khmer Rouge
genocide in the late 1970s or the Vietnamese occupation and civil war
that followed. For older voters peace and stability were paramount, but
younger voters have higher aspirations.
The new Cambodians are also more
likely to live in urban areas, as the booming garment industry draws
workers from the countryside. In the city they are exposed to new ideas
and technology, and they spread news back home. Despite per capita
income of less than $3,000, Cambodians are sophisticated enough to
understand the unfairness of CPP leaders dripping with gold and jewels
getting out of luxury SUVs to distribute largesse in return for votes.
According to one government official,
the CPP got its first wake-up call in last year's commune elections.
While the party still secured more than 97% of the top posts, support
started to slip. Prime Minister Hun Sen urged officials to spend more
time and resources on local needs. But tackling corruption in a
government based on patronage is a difficult sell.
Hun Sen has positioned his sons to
succeed him, but for now his ability to gun down the idealistic
opposition is limited by his dependence on foreign aid. The Prime
Minister and his allies have gotten a taste of the same awakening that
toppled authoritarians across the Arab world, and whether he survives
will depend on how he adapts to the new public demands for more
accountable government.
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