Elections

Turning his back on a public promise, opposition leader Sam Rainsy canceled his scheduled return to Cambodia on Monday night and said he would instead return “in the next few days,” refusing to guarantee that his time abroad would not stretch into weeks or months. ...

The recent testing of a new electronic voter registration system has fallen significantly short of expectations, with only about 50 per cent of the hoped-for registrations completed, according to officials.The National Election Committee (NEC), which is tasked with organising new voter lists for the 2017 ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Friday urged Cambodians living in South Korea to attend CNRP events being held in Seoul this weekend, despite a warning from the Cambodian ambassador on Thurs­­day that people should stay away. ...

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen reconfirmed here yesterday afternoon the dates for the next commune/Sangkat council election and national election, the State News Agency-AKP report. ...

A Cambodian election observer in Myanmar says the country’s process holds lessons for Cambodia. Yet the NLD and the ruling junta have tried to resolve their differences, leading up to the opposition’s election victory, said Koul Panha, who has been in Myanmar since Nov. 3, ...

Testing of a new electronic voter registration system is “running smoothly”, with more than 14,000 people registered across 24 provinces since the pilot project began on November 1, the National Election Committee announced yesterday. ...

A court complaint lodged by the vice president of charismatic radio station owner Mam Sonando’s political party seeking its eventual dissolution has been thrown out of court. ...

Myanmar President Thein Sein has congratulated opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy Party (NLD) for their apparent landslide victory in this week’s parliamentary elections over the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). ...

Cambodia’s opposition leader yesterday lauded the success of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party in Myanmar’s historic election, an outcome he said will help pave the way for his party’s own electoral victory.In a post on his Facebook page, Cambodia National ...

Halfway into a pilot project testing a computerized voter registration system, the National Election Committee (NEC) has identified a lack of electricity and Internet access in the countryside along with inaccurate voter documentation as its main challenges. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen complained Thursday that too much politicking has been going on outside of the several-week official campaign period leading up to an election and that laws should be made to penalize the activity. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Thursday that the soldiers who violently attacked two CNRP lawmakers last week were only reacting to racial insults, while Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said he would have “used a gun” against the lawmakers. ...

Recent politic rhetoric in Cambodia and back-pedaling by some political leaders brings to mind a classic from the late Michael Jackson “Man in the Mirror”. Below, I have inserted one paragraph from his lyrics to put things in perspective before I ramble on the about ...

Three founding members of radio personality Mam Sonando’s Beehive Social Democratic Party appeared at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday for questioning over a complaint they filed requesting the party be dissolved because its leader is corrupt. ...

Sam Rainsy Party deputy president Teav Vannol yesterday declined to say whether he would take leadership of the party in the wake of president Kong Korm’s retirement, though a fellow senator said it was all but a foregone conclusion. ...

Three of the men at a pro-CPP protest who beat CNRP lawmakers Nhay Chamroeun and Kong Saphea last week as they tried to leave the National Assembly turned themselves in Tuesday, Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said. ...

A few hundred CNRP supporters welcomed opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha back to Cambodia last night after a week of political turmoil in which two lawmakers were beaten by pro-government thugs and Mr. Sokha was ousted from his parliamentary leadership position. ...

Officials from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party say they will continue political talks, despite last week’s assault of two opposition lawmakers and the removal of Rescue Party Vice President Kem Sokha from his senior post at the National ...

Political analysts across the Kingdom are buzzing about the ramifications of the decision the National Assembly made last week to remove Kem Sokha, deputy president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), as deputy president of the legislative body. ...

The National Election Committee yesterday kicked off the 15-day trial of its new electronic voting registration system at 25 stations throughout the country.NEC spokesman Hang Puthea said that the registration test plans to enrol about 30,000 people, though those people will have to register again ...

Lawmakers at a CPP-only session of the National Assembly voted yesterday to approve a new law on commune elections and an updated set of internal rules for the Assembly. ...

Ruling party lawmakers removed deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha as first vice president of the National Assembly on Friday morning in a legally dubious vote that was boycotted by the CNRP. ...

The “culture of dialogue” between Prime Minister Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy will be over unless Mr. Rainsy issues a public apology for describing the premier as a fascist, CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said Thursday. ...

As observers accused the CPP of orchestrating Monday’s savage beating of two opposition lawmakers, images emerged Tuesday of a senior military commander rallying troops to support calls to oust Kem Sokha as the National Assembly’s vice president. ...