SRP Says Rural Gains Coincide With Land Grabs

5 June 2012
The Cambodia Daily
Agricultural production / Agriculture and fishing / Economic land concessions and plantations / Land / Land tenure and land titling / Public land lease
Banteay Meanchey Province / commune chief positions / Commune Elections / Communes / councilor seat / Koh Kong / Koh Kong Province / Kompong Chhnang Province / Kratie Province / land / land disputes / Phnom Penh / Ratanakkiri Province / Rubber Companies / rural areas / rural voters / Snuol commune / Snuol district / Sre Cha commune / SRP / urban centers / villagers / voters

While preliminary results from Sunday’s commune elections indicate that the SRP took a thumping in urban centers—the SRP lost all three of their commune chief positions in Phnom Penh—the party appears to have made gains in rural areas locked in land disputes. Though the figures are still preliminary and the evidence anecdotal, early results appear to mark a shift in sensibility among rural voters in areas where land has been lost to economic land concessions, analysts said yesterday. Communes that have seen well-documented land disputes in Ratanakkiri, Kratie, Koh Kong, Banteay Meanchey, and Kompong Chhnang provinces all saw gains for the SRP, the preliminary results show. In Kratie province’s Sre Cha and Snuol communes, both located in Snuol district, villagers have been sparring with three rubber companies for more than four years. In each of those communes, the SRP gained a councilor seat. …