Cambodia: local elections in the form of a test for the opposition

A police officer votes in local elections, southeast of Phnom Penh, June 5, 2022. © AP - Heng Sinith

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2 mins

Since early this morning, the vote has opened for the municipal elections in Cambodia.

9 million voters are expected at the polls to elect their commune chief.

The Cambodian People's Party, in power since 1979 and chaired by Prime Minister Hun Sen, has a strong chance of dominating the election this time again.

But this is a test for the opposition. 

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With our correspondent in Phnom Penh,

The quest for legitimacy of a viable opposition is today at the heart of the stakes of the election.

The Bougie party is the only one that can truly compete with the ruling party in this election.

A first since the dissolution of the National Rescue Party of Cambodia (PSNC), the main opposition party in 2017. A highly criticized dissolution a few months after the last municipal elections and shortly before the 2018 legislative elections.

The party of

, in power for 37 years, has ruled Cambodia without contest ever since.

Both locally and nationally.

All seats in the National Assembly are now held by the Cambodian People's Party chaired by the Prime Minister.

And only one municipality escapes its control.

The CCP, criticized for its exercise without sharing of power

Founded on the ashes of the Party of

of Hun Sen and co-founder of the opposition party dissolved in 2017, the Party of the Candle does not go unnoticed.

Faced with the Cambodian People's Party, which presents a candidate in each of the 1652 municipalities involved, it is the only one to present competing candidates in almost all the constituencies.

The 3ᵉ and 4ᵉ main parties only have candidates in around 40% of the municipalities.

Beyond local issues, these municipal elections are therefore seen as a resistance test for an opposition in search of legitimacy.

Criticized for its exercise without sharing of power since the dissolution of the PSNC almost five years ago, it will also be a question of seeing how the government could deal with the possible rebirth of a political opposition one year before the legislative elections.

Especially since the campaign and the election have been the subject of comments from human rights organizations which fear that the pressure exerted on fundamental freedoms and the Cambodian political opposition will compromise the very legitimacy of the election.

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• Cambodia

• Hun-sen