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.
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.
Around 100 indigenous residents gathered outside the Preah Vihear Provincial Court as five community members were questioned by court prosecutors for alleged threats to kill and damage property.
Protections on thousands of hectares of Tonle Sap lake’s biosphere reserve are being relaxed to allow farming, in the wake of a crackdown on illegal land use that retook vast tracts as state property.
Across Kandieng district in Pursat, people described living through a crackdown on flooded-forest farming and fishing that seemed inconsistent and designed to intimidate, in several cases becoming entwined with politics ahead of the June 5 commune election.
The sugarcane company that evicted them is gone, but Preah Vihear farmers say others are now moving into their land. The commune chief hasn’t intervened, and the opposition candidate says he has “no right” and laughs nervously.
Four Kampong Chhnang residents were bitten by a wild animal they are calling a “wolf,” and which they say they have now cooked and eaten.
After a hydropower dam forced resettlement, most Sesan residents made new lives in a grid of identical stilted houses in New Srekor, while some resisters founded Old Srekor. An ex-opposition commune chief is now looking to make a comeback in a split community.
Thvan Trel is one 10 officials implicated by the Interior Ministry in Mondulkiri land grabs, and is running again for commune chief at the June 5 election. Local Bunong residents blame her for the sale and loss of their burial grounds.
The government cut nearly 1,000 hectares of land from three provinces and Phnom Penh, distributing land to an oknha, a World Bank land project and the capital’s administration.
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