JAKARTA: Prominent Cambodian opposition figure Sam Rainsy on Friday denounced the upcoming general election as a “fake and sham” after the country’s the sole opposition party was disqualified from the race this week.
The Candlelight Party was disqualified by the election commission on Monday over what the poll body said was failure to submit proper registration documents, a move critics have said threatens to undermine democracy and political freedoms in the Southeast Asian country.
July’s poll will be a “fake and sham election for the simple reason that there will be no opposition,” said Rainsy, the self-exiled former opposition leader, adding Cambodia was “in effect a one-party system”.
He was speaking at an event in the Indonesian capital on press freedom in Southeast Asia.
Rainsy urged democratic countries not to recognize the legitimacy of the Cambodian election and long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen.
A Cambodian government spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
The ruling Cambodian People’s Party said earlier this week that the election would be free and fair, adding that more than 10 other parties had registered.
The Candlelight Party is a reincarnation of the now-disbanded opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party, which Rainsy co-founded. The Supreme Court dissolved that party in 2017 as part of what was derided as a wider crackdown on Hun Sen’s critics.
Cambodia opposition figure calls upcoming election a ‘sham’
https://arab.news/9rcja
Cambodia opposition figure calls upcoming election a ‘sham’
- The Candlelight Party was disqualified by the election commission on Monday
Slovak parliament passes law to abolish whistleblower protection office
- The new law abolishes the office in charge of protecting whistleblowers and creates another body
- Fico has faced a series of protests over his curbing of rights in the country
BRATISLAVA: Slovakia’s parliament on Tuesday approved a law that critics say will curb protections for whistleblowers, the latest move drawing rule-of-law concerns since nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico’s return to power in 2023.
It comes after parliament last year adopted controversial penal code reforms, including easing the penalties for corruption and economic offenses in the European Union and NATO member.
Since his return to power, Fico has faced a series of protests over his curbing of rights in the country of 5.4 million people.
Parliament passed the new law, which abolishes the office in charge of protecting whistleblowers and creates another body that will be placed under government authority, with 78 votes in favor and 57 against.
The law, which foresees that the government will nominate the chair of the new body, will take effect from January 1, 2026.
Parliament will be tasked with electing the chair.
The law states that “protections granted so far may be retroactively withdrawn... from whistleblowers,” adding that protections may also “be permanently re?evaluated, including at the initiative of the employer.”
Jan Horecky, a lawmaker from the Christian Democratic KDH party, denounced the abolition of the “last... independent institution dedicated to fighting corruption” in the country.
In recent weeks, Slovak NGOs have protested against the government plans to abolish the office, with a few hundred people rallying in front of the parliament building after lawmakers passed the law in the first reading.
The opposition SaS party has called a new protest for Thursday.
Transparency International Slovakia in late November accused Fico of “dismantling even the little he himself offered in the fight against corruption,” while the NGO Stop Corruption said whistleblower protection risks being turned into “a scrap of paper that will protect no one.”
Slovakia’s rank in Transparency International’s annual corruption perceptions index dropped several places last year, with the country ranking among the most corrupt in the EU last year.
Critics say about 100 people who have blown the whistle on corruption stand to lose protection.
Fico has drawn a series of protests, including over tightening his grip on public broadcaster RTVS and media outlets he deems “hostile” and replacing leading figures in the country’s cultural institutions.
Brussels launched legal action against Slovakia over changes to the country’s constitution that see national law take precedence over EU law.
