Government

With official tallies from Sunday’s commune elections slowed by internet hiccups, both major political parties provided similar results but different stories on Monday on which had won a vote that drew a record 7 million Cambodians to the polls—300,000 more than had been previously reported ...

Preliminary returns from Sunday’s commune elections appear to show a tighter popular vote than the breakdown of communes won would seem to suggest, with the CNRP raking in an estimated 45 percent of votes to the CPP’s 48 percent, according to a coalition of NGOs. ...

Apparent CPP Commune Chief-elect Chhay Thy yesterday pledged to tackle ongoing forestry crimes in Ratanakkiri’s Pate commune – a cause he strongly advocated for during his tenure as a human rights staffer at Adhoc. ...

A day removed from Sunday’s commune elections, independent observers remained mostly positive about polling day but, troubled more by the conditions leading up to the day itself, refrained from declaring the elections free and fair. ...

As commune election results continued to trickle in yesterday, it was abundantly clear that Cambodia’s political landscape is now dominated by just two main competitors. However, the Kingdom’s smaller parties, some with lofty ambitions, came away with a few successes. ...

The Cambodian People’s Party won 70 percent of the country’s 1,646 commune councils at yesterday’s elections, according to unofficial results published by a government-aligned media outlet – a marked drop from the 97 percent it won in 2012 but one far smaller than the opposition ...

The amount of money political parties spent on the campaign trail ahead of yesterday’s nationwide commune elections varied wildly, with observers and party members yesterday blaming the lack of a campaign finance law in Cambodia for what they characterised as the uneven playing field among ...

A lack of official results did not stop both major political parties from claiming victory in Cambodia’s highest-stakes and highest-turnout local elections to date on Sunday, with the CPP citing its dominance in winning commune chief seats and the CNRP boasting of huge opposition gains ...

Union leaders have admitted they were surprised at the high number of factory workers who returned to the provinces from Phnom Penh to cast their vote in the commune elections. ...

Australian national James Ricketson was arrested on Saturday, according to police officials, with local media claiming the independent journalist was detained for “stealing information”. ...

While yesterday’s commune elections went more smoothly than past iterations, they were not free from claims of irregularities, with opposition activists bearing the brunt of the legal punishments. ...

A remark by an opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) senior adviser that Minister of Interior Sar Kheng would remain deputy prime minister if the opposition party won the 2018 national elections drew a terse response from the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), with the minister ...

Ta Siem, a remote commune in Siem Reap province, yesterday changed hands from the opposition to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party after several hundred soldiers were trucked there from another province to vote. ...

Khem Veasna, founder and president of the League for Democracy Party, has been issued a formal warning by the National Election Committee (NEC) today for allegedly violating election rules by continuing to campaign on Facebook despite the ban. ...

Jubilant cheers resounded at the Cambodia National Rescue Party headquarters in Kampong Cham last night as the party transformed its solid support base in the province into an undeniable stronghold. ...

Independent election observers praised Sunday’s running of the nationwide commune elections as largely smooth and peaceful, even while noting a raft of problems, including unauthorized officials at polling sites, intimidated observers and soldiers being brought to vote at some polling stations by the truckload.   ...

As Cambodians went to vote yesterday, more than 1,000 ethnic Vietnamese families living in floating houses in Kampong Chhnang province found themselves shunned by election officials on both sides of the border.   ...

A lack of official results did not stop both major political parties from claiming victory in Cambodia’s highest-stakes and highest-turnout local elections to date on Sunday, with the CPP citing its dominance in winning commune chief seats and the CNRP boasting of huge opposition gains ...

A total of 22,148 polling stations across the country opened their doors to registered voters at 7:00 AM. Some 7.8 million people are registered to vote for chiefs and councilors in more than 1,600 communes, with close to 12 political parties fielding candidates. ...

Several more trade unions and civil society organisations have added their voice to calls for factory workers to be given three days off to vote. A letter signed by ten groups yesterday urged the Labour Ministry to intervene and order employers to give staff the day ...

Cambodia has been elected as an executive board member of the United Nations Development Programme.A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country would hold the position for a three-year term, beginning in January 2018. ​ ...

Police have summoned the CNRP’s top party boss in Phnom Penh to appear for questioning today about a clash between a motorbike driver and a group of opposition supporters campaigning earlier this week in the capital. ...

Two Cambodia Daily journalists accused of incitement and violating voters’ rights for asking questions in advance of Sunday’s commune elections in Ratanakkiri province will likely be summoned for questioning after Election Day, a provincial court prosecutor said. ...

The Ministry of Interior yesterday warned human rights groups that they are being closely watched for alleged bias towards the opposition CNRP, in a startling move targeting some of the country’s most prominent local NGOs. Ministry of Interior (MoI) spokesman Khieu Sopheak confirmed yesterday that ...