PHNOM PENH—In white tuk-tuks kitted out with megaphones and banners, supporters of a tiny Cambodian opposition party wind down a dusty Phnom Penh street, rallying votes ahead of the country’s one-sided election.
It will be a herculean task for the little-known Grassroots Democratic Party to win any seats in Cambodia’s 125-member National Assembly at the July 23 election — widely dismissed as a sham.
But party president Yeng Virak insists his team is fighting the good fight.
“We have a mission to restore democracy,” he told AFP.
At the last national poll in 2018, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) made a clean sweep, winning every parliamentary seat after a court outlawed the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.
This time around, the Candlelight Party — the CPP’s only credible rival — was barred from running over registration technicalities.
“The future for the Cambodian opposition is dim,” said Sebastian Strangio, author of “Hun Sen’s Cambodia”.
For the 17 remaining parties contesting the poll, it’s difficult to compete against the deep pockets and long-entrenched power of Hun Sen’s ruling party.
The prime minister has led Cambodia for nearly four decades, and critics accuse him of winding back democratic freedoms and using the court system to thwart political opponents.
Across the capital over the past week, CPP campaigning has featured musicians playing atop trucks and a rally with tens of thousands of supporters decked out in freebie T-shirts and hats bearing the party’s logo.
The Grassroots Democratic Party’s campaign, in contrast, is decidedly modest — banners on motorbikes, social media posts and old-fashioned leaflets.
“We just want to try our best to reach out to the people,” Yeng Virak said.
