PHNOM PENH – July 29, 2018 was Cambodia’s sixth general election since the UN organized the country’s first free and fair elections in 1993.
For the last 25 years, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has used elections as a way to legitimize his rule (33 years and counting). In 2017, the main opposition party was dissolved and its leader thrown into prison on treason charges.
Two local journalists and one Australian filmmaker – alongside political activists – languish inside jail cells under pre-trial detention.
Independent media in Cambodia has been shut down and forced to use its online platforms to inform citizens, in the Khmer language. But 17 of these news websites were ordered offline for 48 hours during the election.
Cambodia Election Report ‘The Crackdown Continues’ aired on CBC The World This Hour Monday, July 30, 2018.
Adam Bemma is a journalist, humanitarian, and media consultant based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Adam Bemma 
Leave a Reply