US calls on Cambodia to ‘undo’ opposition party ban

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday urged Cambodia to overturn its ban on the country’s main opposition, warning that the dissolution of the party cast grave doubt over the legitimacy of 2018 elections.

Washington said the upcoming polls, which will now see strongman Hun Sen run almost unopposed to renew his three decade rule, would not be “legitimate, free, or fair” after Phnom Penh’s Supreme Court delivered the crushing blow to the embattled Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).