TO ANALYSE

Cambodia: CPP victory in local elections does not prevent a timid opposition from emerging

The Prime Minister, Hun Sen, governs Cambodia without sharing.

Here with his wife after their vote on June 5.

© AP - Heng Sinith

Text by: Juliette Buchez

2 mins

Sunday, June 5, Cambodians went to the polls to elect their chiefs and communal councillors.

This is the first ballot since the legislative elections of 2018. Elections whose legitimacy had been criticized due to the absence of the main opposition party dissolved in a way contested by the Cambodian justice, at the end of 2017. 

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From our correspondent in Phnom Penh

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The main issue in these elections lay in the potential emergence of a viable opposition.

At this time, the preliminary results attribute around 75% of the vote to the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), chaired by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

A score which, if confirmed, allows him to obtain 1,648 posts as heads of communes.

All but four.

►Also read: Cambodia: expected victory of the ruling party in the local elections

Four communes were won by the Candle Party, which presented itself as the main alternative to Hun Sen's CPP.

Out of 17 registered parties, it is the only political formation, with the exception of the party in power, to have presented candidates in almost all the constituencies.

Still, the majority party, all powerful, promising “ 

 ” to a people remembering the civil war and the Khmer Rouge regime continues to seduce a large part of the electorate.

The Candle Party, the only real opposition

Four municipalities for a party presenting itself as an alternative is obviously very little.

But, even with around 22% of the vote, the Candle Party is the only one to have mobilized a substantial part of the electorate since the dissolution of the PSNC.

As a reminder, during the 2018 legislative elections, Hun Sen's party won all the seats in the National Assembly.

The party that came second only had around 6% of the vote.

Despite disappointing results in view of the ambitions announced, the Party of the candle should obtain a few thousand posts of municipal councillors.

If they will have little influence, we can still say that an opposition party has gained ground.

undivided power

The majority party will therefore have to learn to deal with this new formation one year before the legislative elections.

Because the Cambodian People's Party has become accustomed to exercising indisputable power since the dissolution of the main opposition party in 2017. Many international organizations and several Western states also deplore an accentuated degradation of fundamental freedoms.

►Also read: Cambodia: Prime Minister Hun Sen wants his son to succeed him

The government of Hun Sen, irremovable Prime Minister in power for 37 years, is thus regularly accused of seeking to silence opposition voices, political or not, while maintaining a veneer of democracy.

As in every election, accusations of irregularities in the campaign, the ballot and the counting have punctuated the electoral process.

The Candle Party, which declared yesterday that these elections were " 

", nevertheless accepted the results and is already looking towards the legislative elections of 2023.

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