In a statement issued in the morning, the Candlelight Party said it did not consider Sunday’s election to have been free and fair, and that results did not reflect the will of the Cambodian people.
The ruling Cambodian People’s Party is claiming a near-clean sweep of the country’s 1,652 communes, as the NEC’s preliminary results from around 13% of communes so far suggest the party is on track to a whitewash.
Counting has begun at 23,602 polling stations across the country. Polling officials are emptying ballot boxes and sorting through ballots. Other officials will start writing party names on blackboards and whiteboards for the tallying of votes.
A Candlelight Party district working group member was arrested at a polling center on Sunday for alleged bag-snatching, the party said, though local police denied any issues.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. across Cambodia giving more than 9 million registered voters the chance to vote for their preferred political party and elect 1,652 commune chiefs.
The 2022 commune election has turned into a surprising contest between the might of the ruling CPP and the resurrected Candlelight Party. Both parties had impressive displays of support in Phnom Penh on Friday, with supporters braving the monsoon rains lashing the city.
Khem Veasna has long advocated for democracy, rule of law, and what he has called a true Buddhist path. But after repeated electoral letdowns, his League of Democracy Party has opted out of this year’s election as the leader has taken a stronger spiritual turn.
The Candlelight Party describes Muoy commune as an opposition stronghold in Preah Sihanouk, where communities without land titles face precarious futures. A candidate who spent two years in jail over a land dispute thinks the issue will be his ticket to victory.
Ahead of the June 5 vote, the country currently has only one commune chief who is not from the ruling CPP: the KNUP’s Da Chhean in Banteay Meanchey. Chhean is now working with the CPP.
Preah Sihanouk is scattered with shacks and trailer homes after years of land disputes uprooted communities. Residents of the most affected communes question whether their votes can put an end to land conflicts and homelessness.
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