Cambodia: Getting Away with Authoritarianism?

Since Cambodia’s 1993 constitution stipulates that a two-thirds parliamentary majority is needed to form a government, the parties had to bargain in the election’s wake. Bargain they did, for 11 long months. All during this time Cambodia had no properly constituted government, but little changed. Power remained firmly in the hands of the CPP, which has ruled since the 1980s, initially under Vietnamese tutelage. It has such a tight grip that elections have become little more than a side- show, helping to bolster the electoral-authoritarian regime that Hun Sen has built.