Supreme Court rules to dissolve CNRP



♦ An all-day hearing at the Kingdom's highest court ended in a ruling to dissolve the Cambodia National Rescue Party

♦ Ruling means the CNRP will lose all its elected representatives at the local and national level

♦ 118 senior party officials, including imprisoned party president Kem Sokha and exiled former leader Sam Rainsy, are banned from politics for five years

That's all from our blog. A full analysis of the day's events and implications will be online later tonight.





Prime Minister Hun Sen addressed the nation this evening, saying the government supported the decision of the Supreme Court to dissolve the ruling party's primary political rival.

In a 20-minute address, the premier said he was committed to maintaining a multiparty democracy in the country and called on citizens to maintain peace and social order.

"We will still strongly adhere to democracy at the national and sub-national level," he said in a television broadcast. "The Supreme Court has just issued the verdict to dissolve the CNRP and it is according to the principle of rule of law."

The premier spent the majority of the address once again asking Cambodia National Rescue Party elected officials to defect to his Cambodian People's Party, extending the deadline for jumping ship by two more weeks. So far, fewer than 200 opposition officials have joined the ruling party.

"All the members and activists of the CNRP, except a few whose rights were suspended by the Supreme Court, still have their freedoms," Hun Sen said.

The broadcast on CTN ended with a repeat airing of a video making the government's case that the CNRP was plotting a so-called "colour revolution".

— Ananth Baliga



Since October the government has pushed a series of legal amendments through the court system which have ensured that the CNRP will be left with no elected representatives now it is dissolved.

Though the party won 43.83% of the popular vote and 489 commune chief seats in this year's commune elections in June, all who have not yet defected to the CPP will lose their jobs. Meanwhile the National Assembly, Cambodia's parliament, will become stacked with seats for a party — Funcinpec — that won just 3.66% of the vote in the 2013 national election.





— Jenni Reid

On Twitter, commentary has been rolling in since the news broke at 5pm.

Dissolved #CNRP president Kem Sokha was arrested & remained in jail & would be charged with treason, former president @RainsySam rejoined the party a day ahead of dissolution, today the CNRP is dissolved& its party's 118 members banned. What is the concession after this? — Noan Sereiboth (@noansereiboth) November 16, 2017

the Supreme Court of Cambodia has dissolved #CNRP. The country is now officially a one party state. #cambodia #dictator — Billy Tai (@billycltai) November 16, 2017

#Cambodia struggled with democracy but decision of Supreme Court to dissolve the main opposition party months before the general election is a clear signal that the CPP aren't interested in even pretending. The people are disenfranchised by this decision.https://t.co/elIcCjGST2 — Fiona Donson (@FDonson) November 16, 2017

If the least surprising news of 2016 was Hun Sen's endorsement of Donald Trump, then the least surprising news of 2017 is Hun Sen's dissolution of the main opposition party. https://t.co/AuiYNZcmnA — Lee Morgenbesser (@LMorgenbesser) November 16, 2017

#CNRP is officially dissolved. Time for EU, Japan, Australia & the US to declare withdrawal from elections assistance, or they become accomplice to the death of #Cambodia democracy. — Monovithya Kem (@MNVKem) November 16, 2017

Opposition spokesman Yim Sovann reacted to the party's dissolution by saying “they cannot remove the CNRP from the heart of the people”.

“This is the end of democracy in Cambodia. We have not done anything wrong. We have fought for democracy. They have killed the will of more than three million people in Cambodia.”



The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian parliament, just released a reaction to the court's decision.

“The Supreme Court has hammered the final nail in the coffin for Cambodian democracy. Its decision not only leaves the country without its only viable opposition party less than a year before scheduled elections, but also completely undermines Cambodia’s institutional framework and the rule of law,” he said.



BREAKING: CNRP to be dissolved