Candlelight Party’s Teav Vannol accuses PM of tightening political controls
Teav Vannol, the Candlelight Party’s leader, spoke to Nikkei Asia in Tokyo on Feb. 5. (Photo by Takumi Kobayashi)
AKIRA KITADO, Nikkei staff writerFebruary 5, 2024 22:33 JST
Cambodian democracy weaker under Hun Manet, says opposition
Candlelight Party’s Teav Vannol accuses PM of tightening political controls
Teav Vannol, the Candlelight Party’s leader, spoke to Nikkei Asia in Tokyo on Feb. 5. (Photo by Takumi Kobayashi)
AKIRA KITADO, Nikkei staff writerFebruary 5, 2024 22:33 JST
TOKYO — Cambodia’s democracy has been regressing since Prime Minister Hun Manet entered office in August last year, according to the leader of an opposition party that was barred from last year’s general election.
“His administration is getting worse in terms of democracy. There is no democracy in Cambodia,” Teav Vannol, president of the Candlelight Party, told Nikkei Asia during an interview in Tokyo on Monday when he said he would seek support from the Japanese government.
Teav Vannol said that Hun Manet had “even tightened” controls on opponents compared to Hun Sen, his predecessor and father, and arrested political opponents.
The Candlelight Party is the successor to the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the former main opposition party, and won just over 20% of votes in local elections in June 2022. However, the country’s election commission did not allow the party to compete in the national vote on the grounds of missing registration documents.
The election produced a landslide victory for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), in which it secured 120 of the 125 seats.
Political crackdowns against opponents have continued under the new government, with threats and arrests of many, including Candlelight members. Teav Vannol expressed concerns about his and his party members’ safety while they continue political activities in Cambodia, saying he and other high-ranking party officials are “monitored by cameras for 24 hours.”
Cambodia will hold six-yearly senate elections later this month with 58 seats in contention. This is an election in which members of the commune council and others vote, and will favor the CPP, which has the vast majority of the nearly 11,600 councilors.
A Candlelight Party banner on the outskirts of Phnom Penh in 2023. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Teav Vannol said that his party has been banned again and therefore it is cooperating with the Khmer Will Party, another opposition party. Some Candlelight members have reportedly been transferred to the Khmer Will Party to run in the election.
“They do what they want — just no justice,” said Teav Vannol. “Only the words of the prime minister can change everything.”
The CPP won all seats in the 2018 national election after the country’s compliant judiciary dissolved CNRP, the Candlelight Party predecessor that won almost half the votes in the 2013 election.
Teav Vannol said he does not know how long it will take for his country to achieve democracy, but it “depends on the willingness of Cambodian people.” He said that Cambodian people “must be hungry for democracy.”