CAMBODIA'S OPPOSITION PARTY
MOBILISING SOCIAL MEDIA TO BYPASS DICTATORSHIP AND CATALYSE THE COUNTRY’S LARGEST YOUTH MOVEMENT
Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy Returns to Cambodia. © Phnom Penh Post
CASE STUDY SUMMARY:
Context:
In 2013, I had the opportunity to be involved in Cambodia’s general elections campaign. As a team of two, we took on this project pro bono and for the first time in the history of Cambodia, fought a national election campaign solely on facebook.
Problem:
The challenge seemed impossible as Prime Minister Hun Sen - Asia’s longest-serving leader - has kept power in Cambodia since the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979. His party has a stranglehold on the government, the law and the media and so the status quo has prevailed for the past 42 years. Cambodia is one of the world’s most corrupt countries and ranks at the bottom for Rule of Law in East Asia.*
Our client, Sam Rainsy, Cambodia’s longest-standing Opposition Leader was forced into political and physical exile in 2009. And ever since he had been losing touch with the people of Cambodia – not to mention he would be absent in the run-up to the crucial national elections in July 2013.
Strategy:
To circumvent the physical, political and media censorship we drove the entire election campaign on facebook - a platform considered trivial at the time. Riding Facebook’s astonishing rise, we turned Sam Rainsy’s page into Cambodia’s #1 political forum for a silenced youth in less than 4 months.
Creative work:
A 4-month always-on, interactive, rich media campaign on facebook that empowered the Cambodian youth to speak out on current affairs and take charge of their future.
Results:
On elections day, Sam Rainsy’s party made unprecedented gains, winning 45% of the national assembly seats - a 90% increase on the last election.
For the first time in the history of Cambodia, the ruling party lost 25% seats - from 90 to 68 seats.
Without the widespread election frauds, Sam Rainsy would have won the elections hands down. (source: Human Rights Watch)
Sam Rainsy increased his facebook supporters by 3,500% and became the largest, most popular and most active facebook page in Cambodia, even beating Coca-Cola!
He garnered a total of 182k facebook supporters, meaning that in just 4 months, 1 out of 3 facebook users in Cambodia supported his page **.
We attained vertiginous engagement rates - up to 15% - emphasizing the deep resonance of his campaign messages with his audience ***.
Our campaign has permitted a real democratic advancement and forever changed the political order in Cambodia:
“The increasing numbers of young voters - a networked and facebooked post-war generation - have swung the vote away from the authoritarian Cambodian People's Party for the first time in the history of the country.” (Asia Sentinel)
Shaken by the lightning rise of the Opposition in 2013, the government has since intensified its campaign of intimidation, violence, and misuse of the courts and of the law.
Recognition & Awards:
Gold award winner for Best Strategy in Asia and Bronze award winner for Best Strategy on social media at the WARC (World Advertising Research Center) in 2014.
Publication WARC: “A political tsunami in Cambodia: using social media to mobilise the youth and change the political game”.