Elections

Two of Cambodia’s minor parties yesterday railed against the adoption of amendments to the Law on Political Parties, saying their rapid push through parliament waylaid important legislation and served only the political interests of Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

NGOs on Wednesday renewed a push for the National Election Committee to let Cambodians working abroad register to vote, as an opposition lawmaker also challenged the committee to back up its claim that current laws would need to be amended to make it happen. ...

The CNRP is expected today to urge King Norodom Sihamoni to withhold his signature from a set of changes to the Law on Political Parties designed to sideline opposition figure Sam Rainsy. ...

The Senate, as predicted, passed contentious changes to the Law on Political Parties yesterday in a bid to erase – in some cases literally – opposition figure Sam Rainsy from Cambodia’s political scene. ...

The Ministry of Interior plans to offer training courses to new commune councillors, Interior Minister Sar Kheng revealed yesterday after a closed-door meeting with National Election Committee officials. ...

Preventing spoiled ballots and improving complaint resolution were top of the agenda when the National Election Committee met at the weekend to discuss ways to improve the commune polls. ...

The National Election Committee plans to hold a two-day meeting in Preah Sihanouk province to review the June 4 commune elections, with members of the election monitoring coalition the “Situation Room” saying yesterday they plan to table recommendations to improve certain electoral procedures. ...

The French government has thrown its backing behind Cambodia’s recent commune elections, saying the polls went smoothly and were free and fair. ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has demanded that all new commune chiefs and councillors elected at the June 4 local elections submit asset declarations to the unit and reminded those who were re-elected to update their declarations. ...

While highly contentious new rules were being passed in the National Assembly on Monday banning the CNRP from collaborating with its former leader Sam Rainsy, photographs were posted to Facebook of senior opposition lawmakers dining at a riverside hotel in Kampot province. ...

Against a backdrop of government criticism of local election watchdogs, Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong has been elected vice president of the standing committee of the election monitor ICAPP, which has frequently been criticised for indiscriminately offering its stamp of approval to otherwise controversial elections. ...

The National Assembly swiftly passed controversial new measures yesterday to effectively ban former opposition leader Sam Rainsy from the political arena or from bolstering the opposition’s firepower ahead of next year’s elections. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng took aim at civil society on Tuesday night, warning NGOs to comply with the law or face legal action, at the same time the ministry ordered the ad hoc election monitoring group the Situation Room to cease any future monitoring activities. ...

Two newly elected opposition commune chiefs in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville are struggling to dislodge their Cambodian People’s Party predecessors following their recent swearing in to office. ...

The Ministry of Interior has issued a warning to election watchdogs Comfrel and Nicfec, ordering them to halt their activities that allegedly violate their NGO obligation of neutrality. ...

Interior Ministry officials have met to discuss whether the situation room broke the law when it monitored recent commune polls. Interior Minister Sar Kheng said the government is scrutinising the group of about 40 NGOs to ascertain if it attempted to undermine the polls. ...

After 427 days behind bars, the Adhoc 5 have been enjoying their first weekend of liberty after being released from prison on bail on Thursday night. ...

Despite repeated vows by both of Cambodia’s major political parties to increase female representation, the number of female candidates elected in the Kingdom’s recently concluded commune elections actually decreased since they were last held in 2012.   ...

The National Election Committee will hold a meeting with political parties and civil society organisations next month to discuss the high number of invalid ballots in the commune elections. Of more than 7 million ballots cast, 133,484 were deemed invalid. ...

The country’s election authority released its official results for the June 4 commune elections on schedule on Sunday, calling 1,156 out of a total 1,646 communes for the CPP, which also won 6,503 of the 11,572 council seats up for grabs. ...

Transparency International (TI) Cambodia yesterday said that the ruling Cambodian People’s Party appeard to have won 49.4 percent of the nationwide popular vote on June 4 based on the stations it monitored, nearly six percentage points ahead of the CNRP’s 43.2 percent. ...

The opposition once again will ask the government to make upcoming voter registration more accessible to an estimated 1 million migrant workers by increasing the number of registration centers near the Thai border. ...

Out of 64 complaints filed with the National Election Committee (NEC) over the June 4 commune elections, only two remain outstanding, the election body said yesterday. ...

CNRP President Kem Sokha has promised opposition supporters among the Cham Muslim community that any government he leads would put an end to political harassment from the community’s pro-CPP leaders, whom he claimed pressured followers not to join his party. ...