Elections

Cambodian prime minister and his political opponent have finalized the details of an electoral reform plan, but some were met with criticism Saturday amid fears the election body will remain stacked with employees loyal to the ruling party. The Cambodia Daily reported that both Premier Hun ...

One of CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha’s personal assistants on Thursday said the deputy opposition leader “cannot lead anyone” after Mr. Sokha ridiculed a phone call that she claims to have made warning him about a threat from the fledgling “Khmer for Khmer” reform group. Answering ...

Lawmakers from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) would consider boycotting parliament again if Prime Minister Hun Sen’s party continues to delay an agreement on electoral reform, according to CNRP deputy leader Kem Sokha. The two parties have reached a deadlock in talks on forging ...

The International Republican Institute is urging the ruling party and opposition work toward political reform. Jessica Keegan, the group’s Cambodia country director, told VOA Khmer in an interview in Washington that the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the Cambodia National Rescue Party should seek common ground ...

A member of the ruling party’s election-reform negotiating team has told the Post that expectations of the depth of reforms that can actually occur before the 2017 commune and 2018 national elections need to be “realistic”. Prum Sokha, a secretary of state at the Interior Ministry, ...

A new voter registration system that could eliminate irregularities would cost about $17 million, an election monitor said Thursday.  A new system would eliminate duplicate names and improperly spelled names, but would also be based on the old registry, Koul Panha, head of the monitoring group ...

Leaders of the National Election Committee (NEC) who break the law will be removed from their posts by the National Assembly, officials said yesterday. The comments came after a meeting between Cambodian People’s Party and Cambodia National Rescue Party working groups. ...

A meeting held for the “social network” Khmer for Khmer yesterday revealed trepidation among members about the group’s possible future as a new political party. The group, which currently claims to advise Cambodia’s parties on internal democracy, has scheduled a referendum next month to decide the ...

The director of Cambodia’s election reform movement asked the U.S. government on Wednesday to make any financial aid to the country conditional on the implementation of planned electoral reforms. The request by Koul Panha, director of the Committee on Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) ...

A senior CPP official on Monday night outlined the ruling party’s stance in its stalled negotiations with the opposition CNRP on the creation of the new bipartisan election commission. The CPP is insisting that NEC members not be allowed to hold foreign passports and that ...

The head of a key election reform group in Cambodia said Tuesday that he would consider applying for a position on the country’s new election body if membership selection is open to the public and transparent. Koul Panha, director of the Committee on Free and Fair ...

Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha led a delegation from the CNRP over the weekend in a seminar organized by a pair of German think tanks that have been helping the party develop a coherent political platform. CNRP public affairs director Mu Sochua said ...

It’s supposedly not a budding new political party, but Kem Ley’s “Khmer for Khmer” network has all the trappings and rhetoric of a group building a base for an electoral run. ...

The wife of political activist Ouk Pich Samnang, who was charged with intentional violence and causing damage to public property after smashing his tuk-tuk through a barricade during a protest in Phnom Penh last week, said Monday she felt the opposition CNRP had “turned a ...

Cambodia’s opposition and ruling parties have completed 90 percent of a draft law to reform the country’s electoral body, officials said Monday following talks. Revamping the National Election Committee (NEC), which oversees the country’s elections, was a key component of a deal struck in July between ...

Making good on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pledge late last year to help Cambodia reform its electoral system, a panel of election experts from Japan met with CPP and CNRP officials Wednesday to present the findings of their recent study into the system. ...

A group of Japanese experts arrived in Cambodia Tuesday for a two-day visit as a follow-up team regarding the needs survey implemented last May for electoral reform assistance to Cambodia. The team was led by Mr. Tadayuki MIYASHITA, Director, Country Assistance Planning Division I, International ...

Hopes that the ruling and opposition parties would finally reach full accord on a new National Election Committee draft law were dashed yesterday as talks foundered on the qualifications the secretary-general of the new institution must possess. After a meeting that lasted more than two hours, ...

Noranarith Anandayath, the long-serving personal secretary of former First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, said Sunday that he has resigned from the prince’s newly formed political party and is considering joining the CPP. ...

The Cambodian police has released a public bidding notice for the procurement of two water cannon trucks which they specifically mentioned are going “to be used against demonstrations. ...

The contradictory decisions of the leaders of the Cambodia National Rescue Party raised concern over the future of this opposition party. The leaders of this party have shown contradictory stance a few times in the political negotiations with Mr. Hun Sen’s Cambodian’s People Party (CPP). ...

Working groups from the ruling and opposition parties are expected today to finish their work on a draft of the new law on the organisation and function of the National Election Committee, Cambodia National Rescue Party working group head Kuoy Bunroeun said yesterday. ...

Local branches of the CNRP and CPP in Banteay Meanchey province have been feuding since Wednesday over whether the opposition party should be allowed to plant a promotional sign in the ground above a storm drain. ...

Commune councils across the country have begun registering newly eligible voters in the tens of thousands as part of an annual 20-day registration exercise that is to conclude Monday. But election watchdogs are questioning whether the process is a waste of time and money, given that ...