Elections

The U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia condemned the government’s recent violent rhetoric, court action against politicians and attacks against NGOs that have ramped up ahead of a key national election next year, arguing that the country appeared to be “approaching a precipice.” ...

A meeting yesterday between Interior Ministry officials and the acting leader of jailed government critic Sourn Serey Ratha’s Khmer Power Party ended with the party being asked to file missing annual reports to bring it in line with the Political Parties Law. ...

The National Election Committee (NEC) yesterday told United Nations Special Rapporteur Rhona Smith that election monitoring coalition the “Situation Room” will have to register with the Interior Ministry if it wants to deploy observers for next year’s elections – despite there being no such requirement ...

Leaked materials from the United States-funded NGO National Democratic Institute (NDI) have been portrayed on Facebook and in local media as being part of an “ill intended” strategy to help the opposition party win next year’s national election, with government officials yesterday publicly questioning the ...

The National Election Committee said it will aim to register around 1.4 million of the nearly 2 million eligible voters it was unable to get on voter rolls last year, though the body’s chairman, Sik Bun Hok, refused to address yesterday whether the process would ...

The saga involving the arrest of a politically-irrelevant opposition party’s leader took another twist on Tuesday when the party’s Phnom Penh offices were searched by anti-terrorism police, with a party official claiming it was due to links with a government-branded terrorist. ...

Opposition CNRP lawmakers have suggested amendments to a law which would let Cambodian migrant workers register and vote abroad. The amendments were sent to National Assembly President Heng Samrin on Friday. ...

Taking stock of his party’s June commune elections losses, CNRP president Kem Sokha has embarked on a countrywide tour to gather feedback and intelligence the party can use to steer its national election campaign, party officials said on Tuesday. ...

Prominent opposition Commune Chief Sin Rozeth has been formally chastised by Battambang officials for seemingly minor violations – such as erroneously declaring certain services free and keeping her own records – in a case one analyst said reflected the harassment opposition officials have faced since ...

The Cambodia National Rescue Party yesterday completed its task of removing pictures of its leadership from its billboards across the country in response to the passage of widely criticized legal amendments that effectively outlawed their former president’s association with the party. ...

Opposition lawmakers plan to submit proposed amendments to the national election law next week in order to allow Cambodians who work and live outside the country to register and vote from abroad. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on Friday that he will make weekly visits to garment factories across the country to better understand the demands and needs of workers, in what some observers said could be an attempt to appeal to potential voters before next July’s ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen defended Social Affairs Minister Vong Sauth on Thursday, confirming that he had advocated using force against protesters in a closed-door CPP strategy meeting that Mr. Sauth later retold to reporters. ...

The National Election Committee has said current laws forbid out-of-country registration and voting, following a meeting yesterday to discuss involving migrant workers in next year’s national election. ...

National Election Committee (NEC) Chairman Sik Bun Hok yesterday attempted to quell criticism of the electoral body for failing to register migrant voters, insisting that the law did not empower the body to allow overseas voting or registration, and instead passing the buck to political ...

The Interior Ministry has declined to meet two election watchdogs to discuss their work ahead of the 2018 general election. ...

The National Election Committee will on Thursday hold a meeting to discuss the registration of migrant workers to vote in the upcoming 2018 national election. ...

The Interior Ministry plans to monitor the Facebook page of former opposition president Sam Rainsy for violations of newly passed amendments to the Law on Political Parties, which will also force the CNRP to spend upwards of half a million dollars to erase his image ...

Senate President Say Chhum signed controversial amendments to the Law on Political Parties on Friday, effectively preventing former CNRP President Sam Rainsy from supporting his former party from overseas. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen set the date for next year’s national election as July 29, officially backtracking on a deal his ruling CPP made with the opposition in 2014 to hold the poll during the dry season. ...

Cambodia National Rescue Party leaders yesterday summoned members from across the Kingdom instructing them how to comply with impending new laws that will see former party President Sam Rainsy scrubbed clean from their prolific billboards – but not without a hint of defiance. ...

Several senior officials from the embattled KNUP have defected to rival party Funcinpec, a spokesman said on Sunday, following the sacking of 12 government advisers and a warning from the ruling party that all government workers linked to KNUP leader Nhek Bun Chhay will be ...

King Norodom Sihamoni will once again be out of Cambodia on the day that widely condemned new laws are due to be signed into force, prompting some observers to suggest he is abstaining from affixing his signature to politically questionable legislation. ...

Twelve government advisers—many of them said to be allies of KNUP leader Nhek Bun Chhay—have been stripped of their positions in a suspected purge of officials loyal to the former general. ...