News

In a nationally televised speech after the dissolution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen declared that “the government will commit to protecting the multiparty democracy process.” Indeed, 20 parties have submitted applications to compete in this year’s national ...

Responding to the National Election Committee’s official announcement that 20 political parties will be on the ballot for the July 29 national elections, the CNRP and Khmer Power Party – both of which have former leaders in jail – claimed they wouldn’t recognise the poll ...

Opposition figure Sam Rainsy formally called for a boycott of this year’s national election in the name of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party on Saturday, though some former senior party leaders challenged his authority to speak on behalf of the opposition. ...

Former Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha is to remain in jail while awaiting his trial after the Appeal Court on Tuesday (Mar 27) upheld the decision of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to extend his pre-trial detention by an additional six months. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday announced that Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono will visit Cambodia soon to sign an aid agreement, dismissing reports that the Japanese would pressure him to negotiate with former CNRP officials. ...

The United States Senate has passed a $1.3 trillion spending bill that looks to cut funding for Cambodia unless it releases all political prisoners and reinstates the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. The passage of the omnibus bill on Friday, which averts a US government ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a scathing critique of his political opposition on Wednesday, conflating them with fiery protesters in Australia and doubling down on his vow to keep politically sensitive prisoners behind bars. ...

Four months out from the July elections, senior Cambodian People’s Party officials at home and abroad have called on people to exercise their vote in July – even if they don’t vote for the CPP – amid predictions of low turnout and waning enthusiasm for ...

The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Cambodia yesterday asked the Interior Minister to justify the dissolution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. Rhona Smith is on a 10-day mission to the Kingdom and yesterday held a closed-door meeting with Interior Minister Sar ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen rejected the possibility of negotiating with the former CNRP yesterday, maintaining that jailed opposition figures Kem Sokha and Um Sam An will not be pardoned, and that there would “be no second Paris peace agreement”. ...

Cambodia’s former opposition leader Sam Rainsy said on Sunday he was open to talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has held power since 1985, to end a crisis caused by the dissolution of the main opposition party ahead of elections in July. The Cambodia National ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday ordered a freeze placed on the former headquarters of the Cambodia National Rescue Party in Phnom Penh, warning that the property may be sold to pay fines and compensation incurred by its owner, former party President Sam Rainsy, in ...

The Ministry of Education has fired four ex-Cambodia National Rescue Party members from their teaching jobs in Siem Reap province, according to a letter from Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron. ...

Cambodian opposition figures seeking asylum in Thailand have been visited by Thai police in recent days, fuelling fears they may be deported back to the Kingdom. Scores fled Cambodia after the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party was forcibly dissolved following the arrest of its president, ...

US Senator Patrick Leahy’s office confirmed yesterday that bipartisan legislation is being drafted to introduce new sanctions against the Cambodian government. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen delivered a fiery speech yesterday, threatening to “attack” members of the opposition with Soviet-era rocket launchers, while also claiming he would arrest them anywhere in Asia. ...

A group of US Senators has sent a letter to Nikki Haley, the country’s ambassador to the United Nations, urging her to work with other members of the UN Human Rights Council to pass a resolution on Cambodia’s political situation.​ ...

The fledgling Grassroots Democracy Party appealed yesterday to the predecessors of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party to contest this year’s upcoming elections in a bid to dilute the ruling party’s vote share – an offer they quickly turned down. ...

Estimates suggest that 0.38 percent of Cambodians have contracted TB, an alarming statistic for a country still recovering from decades of conflict. This rate shows an improvement from the early 2000s, when up to 1.5 percent of Cambodians had the disease. Even so, villagers who live far ...

Cambodia’s detained opposition leader Kem Sokha has declined to join a new movement, founded by prominent exiles following a ban on the main opposition party, his lawyer said on Saturday.​ ...

In Popel commune, Takeo province, some seven commune councilors from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party are going to vote in the Senate election, which will take place on February 25. The election will take place without the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, which gained more ...

Cambodia’s economic rise starkly contrasts the political chaos that reached a climax in November 2017 with the dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party — the country’s only major opposition party — and the detention of its leader, Kem Sokha. Prime Minister Hun Sen has ...

Cambodia’s former opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s reverence for political change is exceeded only by his reverence for himself as the instigator of it. That may be why, this weekend in the United States, he launched the Cambodia National Rescue Movement (CNRM), a new body that is ...

China believes a general election in Cambodia this year will be fair, a senior Chinese official said on Thursday, after the United States and the European Union withdrew support for the vote following the dissolution of the main opposition party. China is Cambodia’s biggest aid ...