Cambodian elections
Meng Heang TAK (Clarinda) (09:58): I rise today to condemn Cambodia’s sham election which took place on 23 July and the transfer of power from Hun Sen to his son Hun Manet. The sham election could be described as the least free and least fair in decades. The main opposition party and only credible challenger to the ruling party was barred from contesting the election. If that was not bad enough, the lead-up to the election was marred by arrests and violence against opposition party members and supporters and civil society as well as trade unionists. This is history repeating. Rewind to the last election in 2018, when the Cambodian People’s Party won every single seat in the National Assembly after the main opposition party was dissolved and its leader Mr Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years in jail. To say that Cambodia is a democracy is laughable. The country was promised so much under the Paris Peace Accords in 1991: pluralist democracy, free and fair elections, human rights for all. These concepts are but a dream for too many Cambodians. The Cambodian community here in Victoria will continue to speak out in solidarity with those suffering and to pursue what was promised in the accords, and we will continue to push the Australian government to do the same with targeted sanctions, visa bans and asset freezes.