Global outrage over sham elections in Cambodia

The United States and other Western countries lashed out at the Cambodian government for staging a “flawed election” last week, which saw the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) sweeping all the 125 parliamentary seats with nearly 77 percent of the votes.

The polls followed Prime Minister Hun Sen’s crackdown on the principal opposition, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which was dissolved last year and its leader imprisoned on charges of sedition, notes Reuters.

Amid fear of mass boycotts, the government threatened it would crack down on abstainers, forcing many to head to polls only to spoil the ballots by ticking every box, writes Al Jazeera.