Post-Elections Roundup.

A lack of official results did not stop both major political parties from claiming victory in Cambodia’s highest-stakes and highest-turnout local elections to date on Sunday, with the CPP citing its dominance in winning commune chief seats and the CNRP boasting of huge opposition gains in a ballot monitors said was largely free of the irregularities that marred past votes.

Cambodian voters head to the polls on Election Day.

The National Election Committee (NEC) on Thursday shortened the process voters without national identity cards must complete to prove their identity at polling stations on Sunday, a move an election monitor and the CNRP said came too late.

Different dynamics play out in local and national elections affecting who votes, and how. And a lot can happen in a year.

Several civil society organizations and their employees are under watch by the Interior Ministry for allegedly aiding the CNRP, a ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

Several civil society organizations and their employees, including the leaders of the human rights NGOs Licadho and Adhoc, are under watch by the Interior Ministry for allegedly aiding the CNRP and will face legal action after Sunday’s commune election if the allegations prove true, a ministry spokesman said this morning.

Labor rights activists urged the government on Wednesday to help hundreds of thousands of workers who have migrated within the country to vote on Sunday, with a political analyst saying their potential disenfranchisement could swing the elections to the ruling party.

To vote or not to vote. For many of Cambodia’s saffron-robed Buddhist monks, it’s a difficult question. On one hand, activism among monks has a long tradition, from helping create a strong Khmer national identity during colonial rule, to leading the drive for independence in the 20th century, to protesting with the urban and rural poor in their land rights battles.

Democracy in Cambodia has deteriorated in the lead-up to Sunday’s commune elections, potentially keeping opposition voters from the polls or from voting for their chosen candidates, a group of Asean parliamentarians said on Wednesday—a claim the government rebutted.

Expert View: And finally, can we expect a free and fair election?

The CNRP and the CPP will cap off two weeks of commune election campaigning on Friday with daylong processions, to which they expect to draw hundreds of thousands of people through opposite sides of Phnom Penh amid heightened security, party officials said on Tuesday.

Land Management Minister Chea Sophara rallied residents of Phnom Penh’s condemned White Building to vote for the CPP on Tuesday, repeating calls he made last month to the apartment block’s homeowners.

A poll distributed to major political parties earlier this year emboldened opposition leader Kem Sokha to predict that the CNRP would win 60 percent of the vote in Sunday’s commune elections, a party spokesman has revealed.

Commune Election 2017— Can voter loyalty be bought?

Do policies or personalities win elections?

Responding to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s boasts of bringing peace and stability to Cambodia, opposition CNRP leader Kem Sokha told supporters on Monday that the peace was a facade and poked fun at premier’s dancing.

Transparency International has pledged a rapid assessment of potential irregularities in Sunday’s commune elections by sending 1,100 observers across Cambodia—including, if needed, by boat and helicopter.

What do you think will be the key issue for voters in these commune elections?

Thousands of opposition supporters jammed the streets of Phnom Penh on Sunday to march in the CNRP’s second parade of the campaign period, taking advantage of a quirk in the election law to squeeze in an unexpected procession.