Elections

A new political party has entered the election race, becoming the seventh to launch since the 2013 poll.The Cambodian Youth Party (CYP), which claims to have 3,000 members, will hold a press conference today to publicise its platform. ...

Cambodia National Rescue Party leader Sam Rainsy has called for politicians to speak politely and refrain from using insults in political debate. CPP spokesman Sok Eysan welcomed Rainsy’s statement, agreeing that political campaigning should focus on policies rather than personal insults. ...

More than 100 people have expressed interest in taking positions with the National Election Committee (NEC) since applications were made available to the public five days ago, but complicated identity and background checks have prevented anyone from actually applying, the NEC’s spokesman said on Monday. ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who went into exile after a warrant for his arrest was handed down last month, said on Friday that he would return to Cambodia before the next national election in July 2018. ...

In an exclusive interview with Khmer Times’ French edition L’Hebdo, opposition leader Sam Rainsy guaranteed that he will return to the country before the next elections, explaining that he still has faith in the “culture of dialogue,” saying it must be “preserved and developed.” It ...

The nearly year-old bipartisan National Election Committee (NEC) will later this week begin accepting applications for the position of secretary-general, its top administrative role, with the man currently in the job, Tep Nytha, saying on Sunday that he would be applying. ...

The Interior Ministry has re­sponded to remarks the chief of the government’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) made this week about graft among police officials, claiming that such comments belittle the work of civil servants who have dedicated their lives to the state. ...

Senate spokesman Mam Bun Neang issued a statement Monday describing as “shameful” the decision by the chamber’s 10 opposition senators to boycott the day’s vote in protest of the arrest warrant issued for opposition leader Sam Rainsy. ...

Forty-six senators from the ruling CPP on Monday unanimously ap­proved the 2016 national budget and the telecommunications law in the absence of 10 boycotting senators from the opposition Sam Rain­sy Party (SRP), according to a press re­lease. ...

The National Election Committee’s $1 million pilot project last month to test its new computerized voter registration system revealed that the registration process is inefficient and needs to be sped up, a group of NGOs calling itself the Electoral Reform Alliance (ERA) said at a ...

Deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha on Thursday told a conference of the CNRP’s provincial youth leaders to be careful with what they post on Facebook, asking them to remain polite in political arguments to prevent provoking any trouble with the ruling CPP. ...

The Electoral Reform Alliance yesterday held a roundtable discussion to pore over the results of a two-week trial of a new voter registration system. ...

An arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday for an assistant of opposition leader Sam Rainsy who helps run his popular Facebook page and is allegedly responsible for producing the video in which now-jailed Senator Hong Sok Hour presents a forged treaty. ...

The opposition CNRP’s 55 lawmakers will boycott this morning’s sitting of the National Assembly and all future sessions until the ruling CPP guarantees their safety and returns to a spirit of parliamentary cooperation, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said on Sunday. ...

The Senate on Friday released a statement condemning a European Parliament resolution on the political situation in Cambodia approved the day before, accusing the E.U.’s legislative body of meddling in the country’s internal affairs and disrespecting the rule of law. ...

Senior figures of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) has expressed concerns that the CNRP leader Sam Rainsy who have been ousted from the National Assembly last week. ...

Returning to Cambodia alongside two opposition lawmakers beaten by pro-government protesters last month, CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha on Tuesday called for calm in the wake of recent political turmoil that peaked with an arrest warrant for opposition leader. ...

The prospective Cambodia Indigenous People Democracy Party (CIPDP) submitted its initial application with the Interior Ministry on Monday, the first major step to gaining official recognition. ...

As a grinning Prime Minister Hun Sen shook hands with U.S. President Barack Obama and received his first invite for an official trip to Washington over the weekend, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said he was headed to Europe seeking to place diplomatic pressure on the ...

Chea Chamroeun, who became a member of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party in 1993, submitted a resignation this week, claiming who would rather focus on communities than remain in a climate of political conflict. ...

A coalition of election monitoring NGOs yesterday urged the government to endorse an international commitment to free and fair elections, and to evaluate the Kingdom’s elections according to its standards. ...

The Electoral Reform Alliance (ERA) will Lobby the National Election Committee (NEC) to adopt a regional declaration on free and fair elections that includes commitments to the right of citizens living abroad to vote and for the military to stay independent of the electoral process. ...

The newly legal Khmer Power Party is delaying the construction of its headquarters, instead using the money to build houses near the Vietnamese border, its leader said yesterday. Serey Ratha said houses will only be constructed on Cambodian land, but added that the KPP would ...

The victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s movement in Burma after years of military rule and repression is already starting to unnerve autocrats nearby. Last week, Sam Rainsy, an opposition leader in Cambodia, declared that the democrats’ “resounding” victory “has created panic among the last ...