Cambodia

“Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia”: Once a phrase commonly seen on banners in Phnom Penh, it has now taken to the streets.

Over a month after the 2013 general elections in Cambodia, planned demonstrations against the results are taking place worldwide. Following decades of civil war, with peace came ignorance, as the tiny nation lying south of Thailand was so often overlooked. After years of international disregard, Cambodia is slowly being placed back on the world’s political map, with democracy looming in the horizon.

During the country's most recent election, opposition parliamentarian Mu Sochua saw her brave countrywomen standing up to corruption and demanding change.
After intense campaigning throughout Cambodia that took more than 12 months—from the mountains of MondulKiri to the former stronghold of the Khmer Rouge in Samlot—the 2013 general election produced the result we’d all been aiming for: P'dho, Chneas. Change, We Can.

As Cambodia's most visible female politician, Mu Sochua is a leader in the fight for democratic reform and women's rights, although both issues are looked at with skepticism in this male-dominated society.

Boosting female political representation at July’s national election was the topic of a round-table discussion attended by dozens of political-party representatives, though none from the ruling party, in Phnom Penh yesterday.

Civil-society groups are pushing for women to account for 30 per cent of successful candidates at the poll come July, while the government has long been party to a 2015 UN millennium development goal of 25 per cent of candidates at the commune level and 30 per cent in the National Assembly.