General election to be held on July 27 in Cambodia

Hemscott Group

PHNOM PENH (Thomson Financial) - Cambodians will go to the polls on July 27 for a general election in which more than 8 million people are expected to cast their vote, an election commission official said Monday.

Incumbent Prime Minster Hun Sen -- the longest-serving elected premier in Southeast Asia, with 23 years in power -- and his ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) are widely expected to win the poll.

Tep Nitha, secretary-general of the National Election Committee (NEC), said that 8,124,391 people had registered to vote before the February deadline.

The last general election, in July 2003 saw the kingdom plunged into a year of political stalemate as parties wrangled over forming a coalition. A government was finally formed in July 2004.

Cambodia has 57 political parties, including the CPP; its coalition partner, the royalist Funcinpec party; Prince Norodom Ranariddh's new eponymous party, and the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, historically the political underdog.

Twenty-three parties contested the 2003 polls, and Tep Nitha said he expected about 20 parties to register from April 28 to May 12 for this year's vote.

About 7,000 local election observers and 40 international monitoring bodies have registered to observe the election, he said.

Local elections last year saw about 68 percent of the country's 7.7 million registered voters casting ballots -- the lowest turnout since Cambodia's first democratic election in 1993.
Tep Nitha predicted that turnout in July will be higher.

The CPP won a landslide victory at last year's commune council elections, further tightening their grip on power ahead of the national polls.

Hun Sen has repeatedly said he will stay on in the post of prime minister if the CPP wins the polls.

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