Cambodia’s main opposition party dissolved by Supreme Court

Friday, 17 November 2017 00:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Police officers stand guard at the Supreme Court during a hearing to decide whether to dissolve the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, November 16, 2017 – REUTERS

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) on Thursday, giving Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party a clear run in a general election next year.

The court ruling, in response to a petition brought by the government, also banned 118 CNRP members from politics for five years.

The CNRP, which had been poised to challenge Hun Sen’s long rule in next year’s election, was accused of plotting to topple the government after the arrest of party leader Kem Sokha on Sept. 3.

The party denied the accusations as politically motivated. It did not send lawyers to Thursday’s court session.

The verdict comes amid an increasingly tense political situation and a campaign by Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to crush the opposition ahead of the vote.

More than half the CNRP’s members of parliament have already fled Cambodia, fearing detention.

The ruling leaves “no credible political opposition in Cambodia” for the first time since a U.N.-run election in 1993, a senior diplomat based in the Cambodian capital told Reuters.