The Price of Hun Sen’s Opposition Crackdown in Cambodia

The Price of Hun Sen’s Opposition Crackdown in Cambodia
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, right, and his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, left, review an honor guard, Hanoi, Vietnam, Dec. 20, 2016 (AP photo by Tran Van Minh).

For over three decades, Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, has ruled his country without any sign of ever wanting to give up power, despite growing indications that Cambodians want him to. As the country prepares for elections, he has begun his most ruthless campaign yet to consolidate his position as a strongman and undermine his opponents to ensure his own political survival. The resignation of the country’s longtime opposition leader is just the latest indication of the heavy price that Hun Sen is exacting on Cambodia’s domestic politics and foreign policy.

Since coming to power in 1985 with Vietnamese support following the brief but brutal reign of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, Cambodia’s cunning one-eyed premier has skillfully played his domestic opponents against one another and extracted support and resources from his neighbors to preserve his power. Though Hun Sen initially restored political stability to Cambodia and rebuilt it following the carnage of the 1970s, it has become increasingly evident that his continued rule is coming at great costs that Cambodians are less willing to bear.

The clearest sign of this was during the 2013 elections, when Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People Party, or CPP, lost 22 seats and registered its worst showing since 1998. The CPP was declared the winner, but polls were widely seen as corrupt, sparking widespread protests and a nearly year-long boycott by the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party, or CNRP. As Cambodia prepares to hold local elections in June and national elections next year, Hun Sen is determined to guarantee a decisive win for himself and the CPP, no matter the backlash.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review