Khoun Leakhana & Touch Yuthea
With additional reporting by Neth Pheaktra
The Mekong Times
It’s official – the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) are to take the reins of government once again having taken around 58 percent of the vote in the recent general election, according to the preliminary official results released by the National Election Committee (NEC) Saturday.
The CPP received 3,492,374 of the total 6,010,277 votes cast, though, under Cambodia’s parliamentary system, the CPP will control a substantial majority of the Kingdom’s National Assembly (NA), with 90 of the total 123 seats.
The CPP’s percentage of the vote is up this election, from 39.63 percent in 1993, 41.67 percent in 1998 and 47.30 percent in 2003, said the NEC.
Trailing the CPP in this year’s election was the major opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) with 1,316,714 votes, or 21.90 percent of the total.
The opposition Human Rights Party (HRP) and Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) took 397,816 and 337,943 votes, or 6.61 percent and 5.62 percent of the total respectively.
Sin Chumbo, deputy director of the NEC, declined to reveal the number of seats for each party, saying this would be included in the final official report in early August.
Sin Chumbo said that political parties may lodge complaints within 72 hours of Saturday’s announcement – by 8 am Tuesday morning.
Keo Phalla, head of the NEC’s legal service department, told The Mekong Times that only the NRP had so far made an official complaint. The NRP apparently complained of “many irregularities,” especially the use of the controversial ‘1018’ forms that allow anonymous voting.
Unsurprisingly, the CPP welcomed the results, calling them “the real will of the people” in an official statement attributed to its chairman, Chea Sim.
“As democrats with a great respect for national interests, all political parties that took part in the election should accept the election outcome,” he wrote.
But the SRP, HRP and NRP have alleged many irregularities took place, including “ghost” voters, deletions from the voter lists and anonymous voting, causing over one million Cambodians to be denied their right to vote.
NEC Vice Chairman Sin Chumbo and NEC Secretary General Tep Nytha denied the accusations, noting that national and international observers appraised the election as fair and free.
But opposition firebrand SRP President Sam Rainsy called newly elected CPP parliamentarians “ghosts, Vietnamese and illegible voters.”
Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap was unsurprised by Sam Rainsy’s remarks.
“Sam Rainsy and his people cry like this every time after an election, but his cries cannot defeat the law,” he said. “The CPP received 90 seats because the people sincerely supported and voted for the CPP, as they found that only the CPP can lead the country and that the SRP is not reliable.”
Sam Rainsy warned that the result would create “huge instability” in Cambodia, so SRP parliamentarians will boycott the first NA session, scheduled to be held Sep 24. “If we join the meeting, it means that we recognize the election outcome. Thus, we will not join the meeting,” he explained.
The NRP and HRP are also to boycott the first NA session, NRP spokesman Muth Chantha confirmed.
“If there is no proper and fair resolution to election fraud, the NRP will boycott the NA session, but the boycott does not mean that we will abandon our parliamentarian seats,” he said.
HRP senior official Keat Sokun said that the HRP “cannot accept the election outcome if our lawsuits are not resolved. And we will not attend the NA session, but we will not abandon our seats in the NA.”
Cheam Yeap said the NA boycott was sour grapes at “wanting more posts in NA commissions.”
“First, the SRP want to join the government, but the CPP does not want [them]. Second, the SRP wants to share the positions of NA [commission] chairmen or vice chairmen with the CPP,” Cheam Yeap claimed.
He cautioned that “if any party does not attend the session after seven days of its first session, it [the boycott] is automatically regarded as an abandonment of the NA seats.”
The CPP received 3,492,374 of the total 6,010,277 votes cast, though, under Cambodia’s parliamentary system, the CPP will control a substantial majority of the Kingdom’s National Assembly (NA), with 90 of the total 123 seats.
The CPP’s percentage of the vote is up this election, from 39.63 percent in 1993, 41.67 percent in 1998 and 47.30 percent in 2003, said the NEC.
Trailing the CPP in this year’s election was the major opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) with 1,316,714 votes, or 21.90 percent of the total.
The opposition Human Rights Party (HRP) and Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) took 397,816 and 337,943 votes, or 6.61 percent and 5.62 percent of the total respectively.
Sin Chumbo, deputy director of the NEC, declined to reveal the number of seats for each party, saying this would be included in the final official report in early August.
Sin Chumbo said that political parties may lodge complaints within 72 hours of Saturday’s announcement – by 8 am Tuesday morning.
Keo Phalla, head of the NEC’s legal service department, told The Mekong Times that only the NRP had so far made an official complaint. The NRP apparently complained of “many irregularities,” especially the use of the controversial ‘1018’ forms that allow anonymous voting.
Unsurprisingly, the CPP welcomed the results, calling them “the real will of the people” in an official statement attributed to its chairman, Chea Sim.
“As democrats with a great respect for national interests, all political parties that took part in the election should accept the election outcome,” he wrote.
But the SRP, HRP and NRP have alleged many irregularities took place, including “ghost” voters, deletions from the voter lists and anonymous voting, causing over one million Cambodians to be denied their right to vote.
NEC Vice Chairman Sin Chumbo and NEC Secretary General Tep Nytha denied the accusations, noting that national and international observers appraised the election as fair and free.
But opposition firebrand SRP President Sam Rainsy called newly elected CPP parliamentarians “ghosts, Vietnamese and illegible voters.”
Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap was unsurprised by Sam Rainsy’s remarks.
“Sam Rainsy and his people cry like this every time after an election, but his cries cannot defeat the law,” he said. “The CPP received 90 seats because the people sincerely supported and voted for the CPP, as they found that only the CPP can lead the country and that the SRP is not reliable.”
Sam Rainsy warned that the result would create “huge instability” in Cambodia, so SRP parliamentarians will boycott the first NA session, scheduled to be held Sep 24. “If we join the meeting, it means that we recognize the election outcome. Thus, we will not join the meeting,” he explained.
The NRP and HRP are also to boycott the first NA session, NRP spokesman Muth Chantha confirmed.
“If there is no proper and fair resolution to election fraud, the NRP will boycott the NA session, but the boycott does not mean that we will abandon our parliamentarian seats,” he said.
HRP senior official Keat Sokun said that the HRP “cannot accept the election outcome if our lawsuits are not resolved. And we will not attend the NA session, but we will not abandon our seats in the NA.”
Cheam Yeap said the NA boycott was sour grapes at “wanting more posts in NA commissions.”
“First, the SRP want to join the government, but the CPP does not want [them]. Second, the SRP wants to share the positions of NA [commission] chairmen or vice chairmen with the CPP,” Cheam Yeap claimed.
He cautioned that “if any party does not attend the session after seven days of its first session, it [the boycott] is automatically regarded as an abandonment of the NA seats.”
