Elections

Cambodia’s National Election Committee (NEC) will make the disabled a top priority in political participation and include related policy in the country’s new election law to ensure them equality in the next nationwide elections, an agency official said. ...

Sar Kheng, vice president of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and Kem Sokha, acting president of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party to held talks early next week at the National Assembly’s secretariat. ...

Deputy Prime Minister and minister of interior Sar Kheng approved for two new political parties—the Grassroots Democracy Party (GDP) and Khmer Solidarity Party  (KSP) to contest in the upcoming 2017 commune/Sangkat council and the 2018 National Election.  ...

Low-income factory workers and illiterate citizens risk being left behind in the country’s voter registration process if current policies remain unchanged, Transparency International Cambodia warned yesterday, as it forwarded a list of recommendations to the National Election Commission. ...

As long as Prime Minister Hun Sen and Sam Rainsy control their political parties, the culture of dialogue adopted by them in April will endure, analysts predict. ...

The National Election Committee (NEC) has set up a working group to assist the Interior Ministry in distributing microchipped national ID cards, which will be used in the new electronic voting system being introduced next year. ...

Opposition negotiators were demanding last year’s July 22 political deal include concrete vows to depoliticize the military and courts in a comparable fashion to the National Election Committee (NEC) but suddenly abandoned the demands in the final days, those involved have said. ...

Two new political parties – the Grassroots Democratic Party (GDP) and Khmer Solidarity Party (KSP) – submitted applications for party registration to the Ministry of Interior yesterday. ...

The ruling CPP held a ceremony on Saturday in Oddar Meanchey prov­ince to welcome 564 new members in what it says was a mass defection from the CNRP due to dissatisfaction with the opposition party. ...

The Grassroots Democracy Party, a brainchild of “Khmer for Khmer” advocacy group leader Kem Ley, held its inaugural congress in Phnom Penh on Sunday, electing—unopposed—Mr. Ley’s close colleague Yeng Virak as temporary leader despite vows of a new style of politics. ...

A handful of human rights activists and social researchers on Sunday jointly formed a political party to contest in the 2018 national elections although a political analyst said that small parties are hard to win even a seat. ...

An election watchdog group is calling for a complaint investigation mechanism to efficiently collect and study allegations of voter fraud and disenfranchisement. ...

Members of the National Election Committee (NEC) met with government figures and representatives of NGOs in Phnom Penh yesterday to discuss the electoral registration process, ahead of a new electronic system set to be rolled out next year. ...

The Grassroots Democracy Party, the creation of political analyst and “Khmer for Khmer” advocacy group founder Kem Ley, will hold its inaugural congress on Sunday and register as a party on Monday, Mr. Ley said Tuesday. ...

Prince Norodom Ranariddh has announced the formation of a youth group for the royalist party Funcinpec, in hopes of finding more support among a new demographic. ...

Opposition lawmaker Um Sam An has been suspended from the next 15 sessions of parliament and will have his salary cut as punishment for critical comments he posted to Facebook earlier this month, according to a statement issued Friday by the National Assembly’s Sec­retariat General. ...

Cambodia’s ruling party suffered a dramatic drop in support during the country’s last election two years ago, and critics say lawmakers are now pushing through a spate of laws to ensure that does not happen again. In the past year, parliament has passed new regulations ...

Cambodian officials from the ruling party and opposition say they will continue to work together in political dialogue, despite a court ruling this week that delivered major jail sentences to 11 pro-opposition activists. ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Thursday that he will be more able to fight the recent imprisonment of CNRP activists from abroad, while a prominent member of the opposition said the jailings could be a sign of worse things to come before the next elections. ...

Cambodia’s ruling party suffered a dramatic drop in support during the country’s last election two years ago, and critics say lawmakers are now pushing through a spate of laws to ensure that does not happen again. In the past year, parliament has passed new regulations ...

Emerging from a five-hour meeting in the Senate on this day last year, Prime Minister Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy struck a pose remarkable for its warmth after a year of growing protests demanding that the long-serving premier step down. ...

A year after a protest at Freedom Park that turned violent and was labeled an attempted insurrection, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday announced that it would fast-track the trial of 11 men arrested in its aftermath and ordered them not to leave the ...

Chea Mony said Monday that he would fulfill a longtime ambition and join the CNRP when he relinquishes his position as head of the Free Trade Union (FTU), which was formed in 1996 by his slain brother Chea Vichea and opposition leader Sam Rainsy. ...

Meach Sovannara, lead spokesman for the opposition, threatened to play the American card if the Municipal Court does not drop its investigation of him for his role in violent protests at Freedom Park last year. ...