The ruling Cambodian People's Party dominates the Senate elections

“It is a landslide victory that allowed us to secure more than 50 of the 58 contested seats,” Sok Esan, spokesman for the Cambodian People’s Party, said shortly after the initial results of the vote held the previous day came in.

Aiming for Sunday's election, 11,622 municipal councilors and 125 legislators, representing the Cambodian People's Party and an opposition coalition of four political parties participating under the Khmer Party umbrella, registered to vote at polling stations set up in 33 polling stations. Will (KWP).

The Phnom Penh Post reported that preliminary results published by the National Electoral Commission indicate that the ruling Cambodian People's Party will get 55 out of 58 available seats, while the remaining three seats will go to the Workers' Party of Korea.

The Cambodian Senate consists of 62 legislators, but two of them will be appointed by King Norodom Sihamoni and the other two by the National Assembly (parliament).

Regarding voting the previous day, the head of the National Electoral Commission, Prash Chan, explained that 99.86% of the 11,747 registered voters cast their votes.

“We can consider these elections free and fair and are proud of the way they were conducted: in a peaceful atmosphere, without violence or obstacles,” the Khmer Times newspaper quoted the official as saying.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet spoke in similar terms, highlighting the transparency of the elections, which he said took place in a harmonious and violence-free environment.

According to the National Elections Commission itself, 228 representatives of political parties attended as observers in the 33 polling stations set up in eight electoral districts, as well as 306 national and 25 international journalists to cover the vote.

Senate elections have been held in the Kingdom every six years since 1999, and they are not universal. Rather, only elected members of the National Assembly and representatives of other local bodies participate.

jf/mpm