The Election Period is Upon Us!

It is precisely thirty-one days before Cambodia’s parliamentary elections (which occur every five years) and there is not a soul in Phnom Penh that does not know it. At 5:00 this morning, Shanti and I heard cars and trucks going by our apartment blasting fuzzy music from loudspeakers. Fairly certain it wasn’t a mobile wedding (or funeral), I put my thinking cap on and realized the “election period” – I think that’s official terminology – starts today.

By the time I got to work this morning, Sam Rainsy Party (the main opposition) supporters were gathering in the park outside my office. Truck after truck (Internet news sources say hundreds of vehicles in a row) after moto after moto with SRP supporters in white hats and t-shirts, waving flags and banners with the SRP candle logo poured into the park area blaring Cambodian music and announcements from oversized loudspeakers. It was incredibly loud and distracting. The rally, which continued to gain supporters throughout its duration, lasted about forty minutes before supporters marched down Sihanouk Blvd, clogging traffic on an already over-congested thoroughfare (It is also worth noting that the municipality of Phnom Penh issued a statement to ban such processions yesterday). Though relieved that I could stop staring out the window in amazement and get to work, I soon realized that this was not in fact the case.

For the better part of the morning, processions of various parties – FUNCIPEC, the Human Rights Party (HRP), Cambodian People’s Party (CPP - the ruling party) – descended on the parks surrounding our office, departed and returned within an hour. A vicious cycle of noise and distractions. My co-workers tell me it will be like this every day for the next thirty days until the actual day of elections. How am I supposed to get any work done? And how am I supposed to get through each day without consuming an entire bottle of painkillers to dull the throbbing pain from the incessant noise? Only the next thirty days will tell…