Crisis Chronology

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CAMBODIA

08/22/2023

Hun Sen transfers power to son

Hun Manet is formally elected prime minister. He will rule over an institutionalized patronage system in which the ruling party’s members often have competing interests. The country’s economy is in trouble, suffering from a low-cost labor force and an over-reliance on tourism, which was decimated during COVID-19.

07/23/2023

Parliamentary election. The ruling party holds and will hold all 125 seats and no opposition parties are allowed. Prime minister Hun Sen has said he will transfer power to his son, Hun Manet, who is also the current head of the armed forces.

05/25/2023

Constitutional Council rules that the National Election Commission’s disqualification of the opposition Candlelight Party on a registration technicality is constitutional and final.

09/22/2022

Khieu Samphan, last living leader of the Khmer Rouge loses his appeal of his conviction for genocide. He is 91.

06/06/2022

There is a report that China is breaking ground on a new military facility in Cambodia, which would give it closer access to the South China Sea and the busy Strait of Malacca. China has long denied this.

03/17/2022

Court convicts Sam Rainsy and others of “incitement” and conspiracy” and sentences them to prison.

01/14/2022

Cambodian farmers around largest freshwater lake facing shortage of water for crops due to growing demand for land, droughts attributed to climate change and hydropower development.

11/15/2020

Fifteen Asia-Pacific nations sign the world's largest free-trade agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in Vietnam. It replaces the Trans-Pacific Partnership, from which the US withdrew the United States in early 2017. The countries are: Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

01/15/2020

Trial of Kem Sokha for attempting to overthrow the government begins.

11/10/2019

Kem Sokha is released from house arrest but is banned from political activity.

11/06/2019

With government cracking down on his party, Sam Rainsy says he will return home, where he faces arrest. However, Thai PM Prayuth Chan-ocha, citing the ASEAN agreement, says he will not allow Rainsy to enter the country in transit to Cambodia. Two other opposition members were arrested in Malaysia, but the Malaysian government withdrew an order to deport them to Cambodia after an appeal.

11/06/2019

Malaysia detains vice-president of the CNRP Mu Sochua at its airport, on request from Cambodia, as required by the ASEAN treaty. PM Mohamed says Malaysia is looking for a third country to deport Sochua to. In France, Sam Rainsy was not permitted to board a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok.

11/16/2018

Two leaders of the Khmer Rouge are found guilty of genocide in a UN-backed court in Cambodia. Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan are already serving life sentences.

09/10/2018

Kem Sokha is released from prison, though he still faces treason charges. The opposition has been effectively neutralized.

07/29/2018

As expected, ruling CPP wins easily. Hun Sen has been in power for 33 years.

07/24/2018

Cambodian opposition calls for boycott of voting on 7/29/18, as government says it is deploying observers.

02/25/2018

Cambodian People’s Party claims a landslide success in Senate voting, perhaps all 58 seats. The National Assembly elections will be in 7/8.

01/20/2018

Jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha declines to join CNRM, remaining part of the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP).

01/13/2018

Exiled Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy announces a new party, the Cambodian National Rescue Movement (CNRM).

11/16/2017

Opposition party CNRP dissolved

Cambodian Supreme Court dissolves opposition party CNRP on charges of plotting to overthrow the government and bars its leaders from political activity. With the only substantial political opposition quashed, democracy in Cambodia is essentially ended.

10/31/2017

Cambodian court rejects appeal to free opposition leader Kem Sokha.

10/03/2017

Second opposition leader flees Cambodia after being warned of imminent arrest.

09/03/2017

Opposition party CNRP denies charges of treason against leader Kem Sokha, who was arrested.

06/14/2017

Cambodia lifts ban on return of opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who risks prison if he returns.

03/01/2017

Opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) elects Kem Sokha to be leader.