Human Rights Updates: Cambodia’s Commune Elections 2022

Cambodian People's Party (left) and Candlelight Party campaign in Phnom Penh on 3 June 2022 ahead of Sunday's commune elections.

Welcome to LICADHO’s live coverage of Cambodia’s fifth commune elections. We’ll be bringing you updates as polls open at 7am on Sunday. Join us here to follow events as they unfold.

Polls are Open

Polling stations around the country have just opened. Voters will be able to vote from 7am, with polls closing at 3pm, after which votes will be counted at the polling stations where they were cast. Follow our live human rights updates here.

Electing Commune Chiefs and Councils

Cambodia held its first commune elections in 2002, with local polls taking place every five years since. Voters participating in commune elections select a party, each of which prepares a list of ranked candidates to occupy seats on the commune council. The number of seats in each council varies across the country’s 1,652 communes, or sangkats in urban areas. The party with the most votes in each commune earns the commune chief position, while the remaining council seats are distributed proportionately based on a formula that considers each party’s vote share.

Political Landscape for 2022 Commune Elections

In the last commune elections in 2017, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won 1,156 commune chief seats, while the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) won 489 top spots. Shortly after, the CNRP was dissolved by the Supreme Court; the party’s president, Kem Sokha, was arrested and charged with treason, an ongoing trial that held hearings just last week; and more than one hundred of its leaders were banned from politics, with many facing other convictions and entering exile. In addition, the party’s 489 commune chiefs – along with more than 5,000 CNRP councilors elected across the country in 2017 – were removed from their positions and replaced by the ruling party.

Honoured to meet with H.E. Kem Sokha to discuss the current events in Cambodia and check up on his wellbeing.

Canada supports free and fair elections and fully independent pluralistic parliamentary democracy.
Canada continues to closely watch his unduly delayed trials pic.twitter.com/raKPuIWLYA

— Canada in Cambodia (@CanadaCambodia) June 3, 2022

Election ‘still falls short’ of democratic standard: ANFREL

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) released a pre-election assessment report for the commune election, finding that there “will be no genuine and legitimate election outcome as long as threats against the opposition and civic society remain prevalent”, and that “Cambodia still falls short of the standard of democratic elections”.

It also notes that the participation of CSOs in elections is “minimal”, largely due to repressive legislation such as the Law on Associations and Non-Government Organizations (LANGO) and a lack of international funding.

Political Activists in Prison, Sidelined from Election

LICADHO’s Prisoners of Interest page lists that at least 38 political activists are in prison as the country goes to the polls today, completely barring them from participating in the election. Five Candlelight members have been detained this year, including four commune election candidates. The latest arrest – which saw Candlelight’s deputy chief in Takeo province detained and charged with plotting – was just a few days ago.

Also behind bars is the founder of the Cambodia National Heart Party, who was arrested in April 2022 on allegations of forgery while trying to register the party. His party is not running in today’s election as the Ministry of Interior rejected their registration application last year.

These political opponents have joined dozens of former CNRP members behind bars, including former commune chiefs and commune councilors who were elected in 2017. Twenty-five political activists have already spent more than a year in prison, and some have convictions that won’t see them released until after the national elections next year.

Pre-Election Coverage: What to Read as Cambodia Votes

As Cambodians begin to vote today, here are stories that set the scene and provide context for today’s election.

• Reuters – "Cambodian opposition rises from the ashes ahead of local elections" by Prak Chan Thul (1 June 2022)
• Associated Press - "Cambodians vote in local election amid intimidation, threats" by Sopheng Cheang (4 June 2022)
• Radio Free Asia - "Cambodians to vote in local commune council elections Sunday" (3 June 2022)
• Al Jazeera – "‘We’re back’: Cambodia’s embattled opposition hopes for revival" by Andrew Haffner (3 June 2022)
• VOA – "How Cambodia’s 2017 Commune Elections Were a Turning Point for Democracy" by Sun Narin (16 May 2022)
• Nikkei Asia – "Cambodia's reborn opposition under pressure ahead of local polls" by Shaun Turton and Bopha Phorn (30 May 2022)

Voters wait to enter a polling station in Takeo this morning.

In multiple provinces, local authorities have been seen lingering on polling grounds and in some instances noting the names of those who are there to vote.

Updated at 08:48 ICT

As of 9:15am, LICADHO has received reports of local authorities lingering in or in front of polling grounds in nine provinces. In many cases they've been seen noting the names or number of voters. Reports come from:

• Banteay Meanchey
• Kampong Speu
• Kampot
• Koh Kong
• Phnom Penh
• Siem Reap
• Svay Rieng
• Takeo
• Tbong Khmum

Updated at 10:52 ICT

Contesting Parties

Seventeen parties are contesting today’s commune election. Only the ruling CPP is fielding candidates in all of the country’s 1,652 communes. The Candlelight Party, formerly the Sam Rainsy Party, surprised many with its resurgence in recent months. The party is the second largest party competing for seats today, with candidates in all but 29 communes.

Other parties are vying for seats in four to over 600 communes each. They are: FUNCINPEC, Khmer National United Party, Cambodia National Love Party, Cambodia Nationality Party, Cambodian Youth Party, Khmer Will Party, Cambodia Reform Party, Kampucheaniyum Party, Grassroots Democratic Party, Khmer United Party, Beehive Social Democratic Party, Cambodia Indigenous People’s Democracy Party, Ekpheap Cheat Khmer Party, Reaksmey Khemara Party, and Khmer Economic Development Party. To read more about parties competing, visit VOD’s “Guide to Political Parties Contesting the 2022 Commune Elections”.

The Campaigns

CPP supporters rally in Phnom Penh on 3 June 2022

Parties took to the streets during the official two-week campaign period, which ran from 21 May to 3 June.

As parties are allowed to hold two rallies in each commune during the campaign period, the first and final days of the campaign period saw the largest turnouts. Tens of thousands of people went to campaign and march in the capital, with most supporters going to CPP or Candlelight rallies. Similar rallies at smaller scales were seen across the country.

Reports of irregularities and violations rolled in daily throughout the campaign period. Rallies, events and monitors were regularly under surveillance, while opposition party signboards and logos were removed or destroyed in several provinces. A monk was evicted from his pagoda for supporting Candlelight; there were arrests and violence against several Candlelight candidates reported; and consistent reports came in of local authorities threatening to revoke IDPoor cards based on political affiliation, which would limit people’s access to social support.

A range of tactics were also used to sway voters. Some voters were given cash or small gifts, while many cars with state license plates or no license plates were seen participating in campaign rallies.

How to run the commune election campaign by the CPP https://t.co/GuOZfYFYqp pic.twitter.com/Ms6ZWTA5sf

— Noan Sereiboth (@noansereiboth) May 22, 2022

Generals on the Campaign Trail

From left to right: RCAF Commander-in-Chief Gen. Vong Pisen, RCAF Chief of Joint Staff Gen. Eth Sarath, National Gendarmerie Commander Gen. Sao Sokha, and National Police Chief Gen. Neth Savoeun

Cambodian armed forces have long been criticized for their lack of independence, with virtually all senior commanding officers appointed members of the ruling party’s central committee. While in the past members of Cambodia’s armed forces were required to be politically neutral, more recent amendments to the laws governing commune elections have since eroded this provision, allowing members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and National Police to participate in campaigns provided they do so while taking time off from their official duties.

This was on full display on social media during this year’s campaign period, with the top brass of RCAF, the National Police, and the Gendarmerie posting about their campaign activities and on-duty activities in alternating posts on their personal Facebook pages.

While the legal framework is permissive, RCAF and National Police members are prohibited from making any public statement in support of a political party or candidate while on duty. Several armed forces units have used their official Facebook accounts to issue public statements urging support for the ruling CPP during the campaign period.

Armed forces involvement in elections has not stopped at campaigning. In recent elections, civil society observers noted an increase in deployment of military units to vote in highly contested constituencies, despite them often having no legal right to vote in those communes. During the last national election in 2018, thousands of soldiers from Oddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear provinces were moved into polling stations in Siem Reap province, where growing popularity for the opposition had been seen in 2013 and 2017, and similar movements have been observed in 2022.