Cambodia’s ruling party, which won elections in July 2023 that international observers dismissed as stage-managed and unfair, has agreed to send observers to monitor elections expected to be organized in Myanmar next year by the military regime.
The agreement was announced after Khin Yi, chief of the junta’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), made a request to Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) leader Hun Sen that the party observe Myanmar’s upcoming elections.
Cambodian media reported that Hun Sen, Cambodia’s strongman de facto ruler and the CPP president, “expressed readiness to send a delegation to observe the Myanmar elections.”
Khin Yi was in Phnom Penh last week to attend the 12th General Assembly of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP).
While meeting with Hun Sen on Friday on the sidelines of the conference, Khin Yi requested that the CPP observe the upcoming election. The junta hasn’t set a date yet but it is believed to be planning to hold the vote in November next year.
Cambodia’s EAC News reported that Khin Yi “complimented the electoral process in Cambodia, deeming it free, fair, and well-organized, and reflected on the valuable experiences gained from past electoral observations within the ICAPP framework”.
“He indicated a desire to model Myanmar’s election preparations on Cambodia’s successful practices,” EAC News reported.
Myanmar has been in social and political turmoil since the military seized power in 2021, ousting the country’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government. The army justified the coup by saying the 2020 general election under the NLD government was rigged, a claim both local and international election observers denied.
Following the coup, the junta said it would hold a new election, but the plan has been strongly rejected at home and abroad, with critics saying a regime-organized vote would be neither free nor fair, and merely a way to cement military rule in disguise through proxy parties like the USDP.
Despite its vow to hold a fresh election, nearly four years on, the regime hasn’t been able to do so, as it struggles to control the country with most parts of the nation under anti-regime armed resistance forces’ control.
However, the junta’s election plan has support from its two major allies—China and India—and the regime this year began some preparations for the vote, including attempting to conduct a census to compile voter lists. But the accuracy of the census result is in question as the census collectors haven’t been able to enter resistance-controlled areas.
Khin Yi’s invitation to the CPP to monitor the vote follows junta boss Min Aung Hlaing’s recent message to the leaders of China and fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries at the 8th Greater Mekong Subregion Summit that he would organize a free and fair election and invite international observers to witness it.
The summit was joined by the prime ministers of Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Min Aung Hlaing said his counterparts spoke in support of the poll plan.
Hun Sen was Cambodia’s prime minister for 38 years before handing power to his son last year after the CPP’s win in elections that international observers said were stage-managed and unfair for excluding the only viable opposition party. During his rule, Hun Sen eradicated opposition parties and independent media.
In January 2022, when Cambodia held the rotating chair of ASEAN, he became the first international figure to meet Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing after the coup, in what he said was an effort to broker peace in Myanmar.
His visit achieved nothing but was vigorously denounced by Myanmar people, who saw it as granting legitimacy to the junta, which has been condemned internationally for the coup and its brutality against protesters and ordinary civilians.
Independent rights groups said the junta has so far killed nearly 6,000 people, mainly for their anti-regime activism.
