The Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva has issued a press statement reaffirming that “Cambodia’s general elections held in a free, fair, transparent, inclusive and peaceful manner.”
The full press statement dated July 27 reads as follows:
“The Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the United Nations in Geneva rejects the misleading and highly politicised remarks of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, surrounding the general elections in Cambodia, to which it would like to offer the following clarifications:
1. The equal application of administrative and legal measures to maintain the rule of law is not tantamount to a restriction of freedom of certain groups. All political parties, political candidates, activists, trade unions, NGOs, and media are subject to the same treatment under the laws of the country.
2. The assertion that the general elections were held in a restrictive environment is also not correct. The sheer number of voters amounting to more than 8.2 million exercising their constitutional right to cast their ballots for one of the 18 contesting political parties attested to the contrary. The high voter turnout of 84.58 percent, which exceeded those of the previous four national polls since 2003, was among the highest in the world and reflected Cambodia’s genuine political pluralism and vibrant democracy.
3. The electoral process was witnessed and closely monitored by 422 international observers representing 65 nationalities from 61 Institutions including international organisations, foreign governments, and Cambodian diaspora communities. Moreover, nearly 60,000 political party agents and 90,000 independent national observers were present. Public statements from various monitoring teams recognised the free, fair, transparent, peaceful, and inclusive nature of the general elections.
4. Cambodia remains steadfast in its commitment to political pluralism, peaceful democracy, and promotion of human rights. External actors should respect the will of the Cambodian voters for their rightful selection of the political party whom they believed is best suited to lead the country on the path of peace, stability, and long-term prosperity.
The Permanent Mission of Cambodia to the United Nations in Geneva hopes that the High Commissioner for Human Rights would take into consideration these statements of facts and will act accordingly with impartiality, objectivity, and non- selectivity in line with the founding Resolution of the High Commissioner’s mandate, A/RES/48/141, which calls for respect of the sovereignty and domestic jurisdiction of States, as well as the well-established principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of States as prescribed by the United Nations Charter.”
