PHNOM PENH, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) said on Thursday that the U.S. visa restrictions on Cambodian officials are "ineffective and useless."
"The restrictions or sanctions on Cambodia are ineffective and useless," CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said at a press conference here. "For me, how can they block my visa if I don't want to go to the U.S.?"
He said it is useless to impose visa sanctions on Cambodian officials when they have no appetite to travel to the United States.
The spokesman's reaction came after the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday that the United States is expanding visa restrictions on Cambodia after the official results of the country's general election on July 29 showed that the CPP won all 125 seats in the National Assembly.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said since the U.S. side has characterized the election as "flawed and neither free nor fair," the State Department is "expanding the visa restrictions initiated on Dec. 6, 2017 on individuals involved in the undermining of democracy in Cambodia."
The U.S. did not name the individuals targeted by the expanded list.
Sok Eysan said it was "unacceptable" that the United States and some Western countries had not sent their observers to monitor the election, but had decried it.
Twenty political parties contested in the recent election. The National Election Committee official results showed that the CPP of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen garnered 4.88 million votes, or 76.84 percent, of the total valid votes.
Through the triumph, Hun Sen will continue to lead the government for another five years.
He said on Wednesday that a new parliament and a new government will be formed on Sept. 5 and 6, respectively.
