T

he Cambodian general elections are to be held on July 29 to elect the members of the sixth National Assembly, the Lower House of the country’s two parliamentary chambers, with the Senate being the Upper House.

About 8.4 million Cambodians are registered to vote, which is roughly 85 percent of the electorate. According to the National Election Committee (NEC), some 530,000 new voters had registered out of a total 1.6 million unregistered voters.

Likewise, the NEC officially confirmed that 20 political parties had registered and would take part in the election.

Cambodia’s political system is clearly defined by its Constitution, which adopted a liberal multi-party democracy. The Khmer citizens are the masters of their own country in which all powers belong to them, exercising their powers through the Parliament, the government as well as the judiciary.

So the people could diligently exercise suffrage as guaranteed by the Constitution, the government launched a thorough preparatory program and organized the forthcoming election so its exercise would reflect the true picture of Cambodia’s basic democracy, belying the claim that democracy is weak and prone to manipulation as a political system.

Perhaps, it would be meritorious at this juncture to reiterate Harvard Prof. Joseph Schumpeter’s definition of basic democracy, to wit: “The authority of the government derives from the consent of the people or electoral participation through free, open and contested election.”

Thus, within this context, it can be posited that the vibrancy of Cambodia’s democratic process through the general elections could be embedded not in wishful thinking of the oppositionists who are supported by foreign tentacles, but within the “quid pro quo” framework, meaning to say, something given or received significantly by the people that improves the quality of their lives in exchange for something else, specifically a thriving democratic society and economic development.

Cambodians will head to the polling stations to exercise their right to vote in charting their country’s future.

Incidentally, it will be Cambodia’s huge celebration of basic democracy, as its multi-political party system has committed to freely participate in it, despite a call to boycott the elections from a political party that was dissolved by the Supreme Court last November for trying to clandestinely topple the government.

Evidently, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), under the leadership of incumbent PM Hun Sen and the Royalist National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC), are expected to profit handsomely in the parliamentary seats they will gain in the July 29 nationwide elections.

It has to be borne in mind that democracy is not possible without the people’s votes, which necessitates voter participation.

Thus, in essence, boycotting the election is not a solution to the current political situation and equation, but an act of cowardice to paint a gloomy scenario of a vibrant democratic endeavor.

Evidently, Cambodia has enjoyed peace, stability and prosperity only in recent decades, thanks to the CPP minions and its servant and leader, PM Hun Sen. Cambodia’s achievements in the last three decades have been both impressive and encouraging, purporting to portray that the roots of democracy has been entrenched in the right path.

The country’s economy has grown at an annual average of more than 8 percent between 2000 and 2010, and about 7 percent since 2017.

The World Bank considers Cambodia as one of the fastest growing countries in the world with hundreds of thousands of jobs created in industries and tourism.

In 2017, it garnered US$2.5 billion worth of foreign investments that is expected to reach around $3 billion this year, compared to $536 million in 2006.

Importantly, poverty rates dropped sharply from 53.5 percent in 2004 to 13.5 percent in 2014, decreasing further to less than 10 percent in 2017.

It cannot be denied that Cambodia has successfully hosted free, fair and contested elections several times in the past in which the multi-party system prevailed.

However, whether a one-party system suits the Cambodian setting has to be researched, and the allegation that Cambodia under the CPP has been mutating into a one-party system is a drunken dream intended to dismantle all the positive and productive gains that CPP has cornered.

In many developed countries, both the ruling and minority political party leaderships work hand-in-hand with different strategies but with a shared vision and common goals for the benefit of the people.

Both sides focus on sustainable economic development in a constructive manner, with the opposition having a critical eye for socioeconomic development of the country and without highlighting peripheral issues that impinge on dividing the people and destabilizing the government.

Indeed, democracy is distinct in every country. Cambodia has been trying to implement democracy in accordance and in consonance with the congruent needs of the country.

Democracy in Cambodia is vibrant, alive and thriving if only the participating political parties would appreciate the entire forest rather than the trees.

What is saddening and alarming is that foreign powers use local parties to discredit the government on the pretext of human rights violations.

Notably, the country went through three decades of war and turmoil because of foreign intervention. As a matter of fact, it should not be forgotten that Cambodia drafted the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration in 2012 when it chaired the ASEAN Summit, along with assistance from other ASEAN member states.

The crux of the matter nowadays is that poor Cambodians need more access to education, food, health care, decent housing and jobs than political rights, such as found in advanced democratic countries.

All of these then can be addressed and provided if the Cambodian people exercise and assert their suffrage and not engaging in a dastardly boycott of the general elections.