Sin Rozeth's attempts to show the benefits of grass-roots democracy to some of the poorest people in the Cambodian city of Battambang are in peril.

The 30-year-old daughter of a vegetable seller became the head of Ochar commune, the equivalent of local council leader, in elections in June. Her victory was part of an "all politics is local" strategy that helped the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) win 40 percent of the 1,646 local seats at stake. Previously it had just 2 percent.

But the authoritarian government of former Khmer Rouge commander Hun Sen is now cracking down at every level on a party that had shown it might beat him at elections due next July. The longest-serving prime minister in the world accuses the CNRP of doing the bidding of the United States.