CPP Claims 72% of Seats In Communes

The CPP yesterday declared victory in Sunday’s commune election, saying it had taken 72 percent of the country’s commune councilor seats and all but 41 of the country’s 1,633 powerful commune chief positions. The SRP in turn said it took 19 percent of the available councilor seats and held on to only 22 of the 28 commune chief positions it had won in the last commune election in 2007. The CPP now says it controls 1,592 communes, an increase of one commune chief position over its results in 2007, and that it won 8,283 of the 11,459 commune councilor seats. … Mr. Panha said 61 percent of voters had shown up, whereas Nicfec pegged the number at just 54 percent of registered voters. … “I think one thing concerns the factory workers: Normally, they have to go home to vote, which means they have to spend money for transport, so they did not go. I spoke to several factory workers about voting and they said they didn’t have money for transportation,” [Mr. Kuntheamy] said. …