How Much Longer Can Hun Sen Keep Cambodia’s Opposition Down?

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—“It’s easy to understand Cambodian politics,” said Vanna, a 45-year-old shop owner in Phnom Penh, as he waited for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) to begin its last campaign rally before the June 4 local elections. Some 90,000 candidates would be competing to represent the country’s 1,646 communes in the voting two days later. “The government does not care about us poor people. It only cares about power.” That morning, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which has been in power for four decades, held a much larger and better-organized rally in Phnom Penh, the capital, […]