In the latest in a series of moves that would help it gain an advantage ahead of next year’s elections, the Cambodian government took the first legal steps seeking to dissolve its main opposition, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) this Friday.

According to spokesman Khieu Sopheak, the interior ministry has already filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court asking for the CNRP to be dissolved on account of an alleged plot to topple the government. He said that they had received “21 pieces of concrete evidence to prove that the opposition party has intentionally sought to topple the government through a ‘colour revolution'” – a term used to describe movements to replace governments in a number of countries. In Friday’s lawsuit, government lawyers referred to a 2013 video that shows Kem Sokha talking about a plan to take power with the help of the Americans.

In response, the opposition has denied all treason allegations saying that the charge is politically motivated. One of the remaining CNRP MPs, Mao Monyvann, argues that the latest move to shut down the party “is intended to destroy democracy in Cambodia.”

The CNRP, which is the only party with representatives in parliament aside from the governing Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), was an unexpectedly strong competitor in 2013’s general election. No third political party came close in terms of popularity and support. The CPP only narrowly won four years ago in what was the worst election result Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge commander who defected and helped drive the genocidal group from power, has faced since Cambodia returned to democracy in 1998. As such, the government has since taken steps to tighten its grip on power through a series of moves against the opposition.

For example, this attempt to disband the CNRP comes after its leader, Kem Sokha, was charged with treason and arrested on September 3 with the prospect of facing up to 30 years in prison. Many senior CNRP leaders have also since fled the country due to fear of arrest.

Furthermore, the government has also cracked down on many independent media outlets. The Cambodia Daily, an English-language paper, was shut down after being accused of not paying a US $6 million dollar tax bill, which was disputed by the paper as politically motivated. Similarly, more than twelve radio stations that broadcasted dissident views or used programming from US government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Asia were also silenced for alleged breach of regulations.

Internationally, Western countries have condemned the opposition leader’s arrest and have also questioned whether next year’s election can be just following the crackdown on opposition leaders, activists, and journalists. On the other hand, China, which is allied to CPP Prime Minister Hun Sen, says it supports the Cambodian government’s efforts to maintain national security and stability.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, criticized the international community for not responding more strongly to Hun Sen’s crackdown, which is “putting an end to Cambodian democracy.” He told Reuters that “the international community obligated itself to protect human rights and democracy in Cambodia when they signed the Paris Peace Accords, but now they are looking the other way.”

There is an attack on democracy taking place in Cambodia. The opposition is slowly being shut down leaving no room for dissent. However, as history has shown us many times before, even in the country’s Khmer Rouge’s own history of silencing dissent, this course of action will only lead to even more conflict and at worst, autocracy. This makes the Cambodian’s government’s latest move a source of alarm should they be successful in dissolving the opposition party.