Cambodia bans text messaging

AFP/Getty Images

Mobile phone text messaging services will be blocked this weekend during a two day "tranquility period" ahead of Cambodia's local elections. The order was made at the request of the National Election Committee, which feared that voters would be inundated with political text messages from parties seeking their votes, "spoiling" the calm in the lead-up to the election. All three major phone companies in the country have agreed to carry out the ban. But the main opposition party has criticized the decision, arguing that it would curb constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.

These local elections are ostensibly aimed at decentralizing government power and strengthening democracy, but analysts expect that they will only reinforce the central government and the longstanding leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen. In the upcoming April 1 elections, there are twelve political parties fielding a total of 102,266 candidates. Cambodian elections have been characterized by violence and intimidation in the past. But the text messaging ban is puzzling.

At last count, about one out of every 14 Cambodians had mobile phones. Rural access is improving, but even so, cellphone users remain a small minority. So why the ban? Perhaps it's a way of the government flexing its muscles and demonstrating its control before the elections. Or maybe it's a way of irking opposition activists. Whatever the case, it's a bizarre example of authoritarian overreach.