The US has promised "concrete steps" against Cambodia and the European Union has raised a threat to vital trade preferences after the main opposition party was banned ahead of elections.
The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved by the Supreme Court on Thursday at the request of the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose rule of more than three decades faces a major challenge at next year's general election.
The ban on the CNRP followed the arrest of its leader, Kem Sokha, for treason. He is accused of plotting to take power with American help.
Hun Sen's critics called the CNRP dissolution an attempt to steal the election and the death knell for democracy after Western donors have spent billions of dollars since 1993 trying to build a multi-party system following decades of war.
"On current course next year's election will not be legitimate, free, or fair," a White House statement said, promising to take "concrete steps".
The first of those was to end support for the Cambodian National Election Committee ahead of the 2018 election, it said.
In Brussels, an EU spokesman said the election could not be legitimate without the opposition and noted that respect for human rights was a prerequisite for Cambodia's access to EU trade preferences under its "Everything But Arms scheme".
That scheme giving tariff free access - and similar trade preferences in the US - have helped Cambodia build a garment industry on low cost labour. Between them, EU and US markets take some 60 per cent of Cambodia's exports.
There was no immediate government response to the reaction from the US and EU.
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