CALD Statement No. 2, S. 2023

CALD Statement on the Disqualification of the Candlelight Party in the 2023 Elections

The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) is alarmed with the disqualification of the Candlelight Party (CLP) from participating in the upcoming July 2023 elections.

On 25 May 2023, the Constitutional Council of Cambodia rejected with finality CLP’s appeal against the National Election Committee’s (NEC) decision to prevent the opposition from contesting in the election. NEC’s decision was not based on facts, election law, nor NEC’s written procedures.

This worrying series of unfortunate events is nothing but a bureaucratic road block to derail the electoral momentum of CLP, which won 4 commune chiefs and 2,198 council members during the 2022 Commune Elections.

The decision of the Hun Sen government to control and disrupt the electoral process and prohibit the Cambodian people from freely choosing their leaders is extremely disturbing. It has been a cycle of abusive power play over the opposition, the most recent of which was dissolving the main opposition party Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) in 2017.

The elimination of the opposition is democracy’s demise in Cambodia. With Hun Sen and his party running unchallenged, it places in serious doubt the credibility of the election outcome.

CALD vigorously pushes for a free and fair process that rightly enforces election laws. CALD reiterates its call for the international community to rally behind the people of Cambodia and the democratic forces that continue to fight through the struggles and rise above the fears and threats.

For the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats:

Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan

Chairperson

26 May 2023