Cambodia opposition figure calls upcoming election

Prominent Cambodian opposition figure Sam Rainsy on Friday denounced the upcoming general election as a “fake and sham” after the country’s the sole opposition party was disqualified from the race this week.
The Candlelight Party was disqualified by the election commission on Monday over what the poll body said was failure to submit proper registration documents, a move critics have said threatens to undermine democracy and political freedoms in the Southeast Asian country.
Rainsy, the self-exiled former opposition leader, said July’s poll will be a “fake and sham election for the simple reason that there will be no opposition,” adding Cambodia was “in effect a one-party system”.
He was speaking at an event in the Indonesian capital on press freedom in Southeast Asia.
Rainsy urged democratic countries not to recognise the legitimacy of the Cambodian election and long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen.