DOMESTIC POLITICS: The CPP will remain politically dominant in 2010-11. At the last general election, in July 2008, the CPP tightened its grip on power, winning 90 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly. The CPP consolidated its position in May this year, when it won around 75% of the vote in the first election for members of provincial and district councils. As a result of the party's election victories, the authoritarian tendencies of the prime minister, Hun Sen, and the CPP's harsh treatment of its political opponents, concerns will increase that the country is becoming a de facto one-party state, with few checks on executive power. In recent years the courts have upheld a series of convictions against prominent opposition figures, such as Sam Rainsy, the leader of the main opposition SRP, as well as prominent trade unionists and human rights activists, many of whom have been forced into exile to avoid arrest. Sam Rainsy returned from a year of self-imposed exile in 2006, after being pardoned for defaming Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Sihanouk. The apparatus of the state will continue to be used against those who are seen to be threatening the CPP's hold on power. International human rights organisations have stepped up their criticism of the Cambodian government in recent months in response to a number of lawsuits against opposition figures, such that against as an SRP member of parliament, Mu Sochua, who in August was ordered to pay CR16.5m (about US$4,000) in damages after being convicted of defaming Hun Sen.

Source: Cambodia: Country outlook