The National Election Committee has yet to complete its official count of the commune elections, missing the Feb 22 deadline it originally set and is attributing the delay to a few slow communes in outlying provinces.
The NEC is waiting for final results from four communes in Prey Veng province and a commune in Banteay Meanchey province, NEC spokesman Prum Nhean Vichet said.
A Prey Veng province election official said monitors had finished counting revotes in the four provinces and sent the numbers to the national body early last week.
The NEC has confirmed the results of the rest of the country’s communes, Prum Nhean Vichet said. The CPP has emerged as “the first leader, Funcinpec was second and the Sam Rainsy Party third in the nationwide results,” Prum Nhean Vichet said.
Although results were still unofficial, it appears the CPP has won control of 1,597 of Cambodia’s 1,621 communes through the Feb 3 ballots, Prum Nhean Vichet said. The Sam Rainsy Party took 13 communes while Funcinpec took only 10. A revote has yet to be held in one other commune.
NEC Secretary-General Im Suosdey said the nation’s commune councils had 7,698 CPP members, 2,213 Funcinpec members and 1,340 members from the Sam Rainsy Party.
Of these, 448 of the CPP winning candidates were women, 35 Funcinpec leaders were women and the Sam Rainsy Party sent 30 women to commune councils. Some authorities had hoped to see more than 3,000 women win seats on the commune councils.
Despite the delays, which officials hope to resolve by March 3, the NEC has done its job well and served the nation, Prum Nhean Vichet said.
“For me, we have helped fulfill the mission for the nation and the political parties already. We are happy with this,” he said.
The NEC scheduled a March 5 conference to announce the final tallies and to discuss the commune election process, Prum Nhean Vichet added.
Overall, though, the NEC’s work during the commune elections bodes well for its—and Cambodia’s democratic future, Prum Nhean Vichet said.
“We learned and we can improve in future elections,” he said. “I can’t say it is a complete success, but we have fulfilled our duty to the nation and the parties. This election was the best ever.” (Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse)
