Cambodian supporters of the Sam Rainsy Party during the last day of the Commune Election campaign in Phnom Penh, 30 March 2007. Voters in Cambodia cast their ballots Sunday in local elections which will likely see the country's ruling party further tighten its grip on power ahead of next year's national polls. (AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)Saturday, March 31, 2007
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodians began voting across the country Sunday for new governing councils in the country's second local elections.
The polls represent an attempt to shift more political power to the countryside, but observers predicted they were likely to consolidate Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party's grip on power.
Hun Sen voted Sunday but did not make any comment, saying he did not want to violate a "tranquility period" during the polls.
His party, which has ruled Cambodia for nearly three decades and built strong rural support, overwhelmingly won the first local elections in 2002 and was expected to emerge victorious again this time.
Mu Sochua, secretary-general of the main opposition group, the Sam Rainsy Party, acknowledged that sweeping changes in the status quo were unlikely.
"Every election is a challenge to power. Even if it is a small gain for us, it is still a gain," she said, adding that few changes occurred after the 2002 elections for councils to administer Cambodia's 1,621 communes and urban sub-districts known as sangkats. Previously, communes were ruled by Hun Sen's party loyalists appointed by the Interior Ministry.
Twelve political parties were fielding a total of 102,266 candidates to compete for 11,353 council seats in Sunday's elections.
Ahead of the vote, the government shut off mobile phone text messaging services to keep voters from being flooded with campaign messages, and to maintain the two-day "tranquility period."
Opposition and independent election monitoring groups denounced the text message ban as unconstitutional.
The government said the messaging services would be restored after polls closed at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Final results are expected to be announced April 24 after any election-related complaints are addressed, the National Election Committee said.
The polls represent an attempt to shift more political power to the countryside, but observers predicted they were likely to consolidate Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party's grip on power.
Hun Sen voted Sunday but did not make any comment, saying he did not want to violate a "tranquility period" during the polls.
His party, which has ruled Cambodia for nearly three decades and built strong rural support, overwhelmingly won the first local elections in 2002 and was expected to emerge victorious again this time.
Mu Sochua, secretary-general of the main opposition group, the Sam Rainsy Party, acknowledged that sweeping changes in the status quo were unlikely.
"Every election is a challenge to power. Even if it is a small gain for us, it is still a gain," she said, adding that few changes occurred after the 2002 elections for councils to administer Cambodia's 1,621 communes and urban sub-districts known as sangkats. Previously, communes were ruled by Hun Sen's party loyalists appointed by the Interior Ministry.
Twelve political parties were fielding a total of 102,266 candidates to compete for 11,353 council seats in Sunday's elections.
Ahead of the vote, the government shut off mobile phone text messaging services to keep voters from being flooded with campaign messages, and to maintain the two-day "tranquility period."
Opposition and independent election monitoring groups denounced the text message ban as unconstitutional.
The government said the messaging services would be restored after polls closed at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Final results are expected to be announced April 24 after any election-related complaints are addressed, the National Election Committee said.
2 comments:
What is happening during the period between April 1 to 24?
NEC will be not influential by CPP, the party of government?
It is called cooking time.
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