Cambodian general election, 1955

Last updated March 17, 2019

General elections were held in Cambodia in 1955. The elections were held following the peace established at the 1954 Geneva Conference and the independence of the country. The election were postponed to September 1955.^[1] The result was a victory for the Sangkum party, which won all 91 seats.^[2]

Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is 181,035 square kilometres in area, bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.

The Sangkum Reastr Niyum, literally the "community of the common people", was a political organisation set up in 1955 by Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. Though it described itself as a 'movement' rather than a political party, the Sangkum retained control of the government of Cambodia throughout the first administration of Sihanouk, from 1955 to 1970.

Participating parties

Sangkum : In October 1954 the royal government formed an alliance with four small political parties, including Dap Chhuon's Victorious North-East and Lon Nol's Khmer Renovation. In February 1954 the alliance was transformed into Sangkum Reastr Niyum (Popular Socialist Community). The leader of Sangkum, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, held that Sangkum was not a political party per se, but Sangkum essentially functioned as the pro-Sihanouk political party.^[1] Sangkum contested all of the 91 seats.^[3]
Democratic Party : The leadership of the Democratic Party was significantly radicalized during 1954, as left-leaning students returned to Cambodia from France. By February 1955, the radicals had wrested control over the party. Many of the new leaders had been members of the 'Marxist Circle' in Paris. Prince Norodom Phurissara became the general secretary of the party.^[4] The Democratic Party contested all 91 seats.^[5]
Krom Pracheachon : The outcome of the Geneva talks provided that former communist rebels would have been protected by the International Commission of Supervision and Control during the election campaign, but in reality such guarantees were not given. With this backdrop, thousands of the communist rebels had left for (North) Vietnam.^[6] In the end of 1954, a group of communist leaders in Phnom Penh, Keo Meas, Non Suon and Penn Yuth, had tried to organize a legal 'Khmer Resistance Party'. Its registration was, however, refused by the authorities. In the beginning of 1955 the group was able to register themselves under a different name, the Krom Pracheachon (People's Group). Pracheachon was essentially the front of the underground Khmer People's Revolutionary Party. Nuon Chea shifted from his rural base, to become the Phnom Penh city party secretary of Pracheachon. The young Saloth Sar (Pol Pot) was also involved in organizing the Pracheachon.^[7] During the campaign, the group was subjected to harassment by the government. As a result, the group could only present candidates in 35 seats.^[4]
Thanists : The Thanhist Pracheachollana (People's Movement) had lost much of its political appeal, after the nationalist stalwart Son Ngoc Thanh had been rejected by Sihanouk and left for the Thai border.^[7]

Dap Chhuon, also known as Chuan Khemphet, Khem Phet, Chhuon Mochulpich or Chhuon Mchoul Pech (1912–1959) was a right-wing Cambodian nationalist, guerrilla leader, regional warlord, and general.

Marshal Lon Nol was a Cambodian politician and general who served as Prime Minister twice, as well as serving repeatedly as Defense Minister. He led the military coup of 1970 against Prince Norodom Sihanouk and became the self-proclaimed President of the U.S.-backed Khmer Republic, ruling until 1975. He was the founder and leader of the short-lived Social Republican Party, and commander-in-chief of the Khmer National Armed Forces. After the Khmer Rouge took power, Lon Nol fled to the United States, and remained there until his death in 1985.

Khmer Renovation, also translated as "Khmer Renewal", was an anti-communist, nationalist and royalist political party founded in Cambodia in September 1947. In 1955, it became one of the core elements of the Sangkum political movement of Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Sangkum	630,625	82.7	91	New
Democratic Party	93,921	12.3	0	–54
Pracheachon	29,505	3.9	0	New
Liberal Party	5,488	0.7	0	–18
Nationalist Party	1,140	0.1	0	–2
Khmer Ekreach	770	0.1	0	New
Khmer Labour Party	289	0.0	0	New
Independents	546	0.1	0	0
Total	761,744	100	91	+13
Source: Nohlen et al.

Accusations of fraud

Afterwards, accusations of massive electoral fraud arose. Kiernan (1985) notes that there were constituencies where the communists were judged to have strong popular support in which the Pracheachon candidates didn't obtain a single vote. In Memot, where communist guerrillas had been strong during the war and where there was a strong leftist following amongst rubber plantation workers, official figures gave 6149 votes for Sangkum, 99 for the Democrats and 0 votes for the Pracheachon candidate Sok Saphai.^[8]

Sihanouk himself implicitly admitted the fraud in a 1958 publication. He mentions 39 districts of the country as 'red' or 'pink', based on the 1955 voting. Several of the district he points out as communist strongholds in the 1955 elections, were constituencies where Pracheachon candidates officially had obtained few votes or none at all.^[3]

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References

1 2 Ben Kiernan. How Pol Pot Came to Power. London: Verso, 1985. p. 158.
↑ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p74 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
1 2 Kiernan, p162
1 2 Kiernan, pp157–158.
↑ Kiernan, p159
↑ Kiernan, pp153–154
1 2 Kiernan, pp156–157.
↑ Kiernan, p160

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[one-1] 1 2 Ben Kiernan. How Pol Pot Came to Power. London: Verso, 1985. p. 158.

[2] Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p74 ISBN 0-19-924959-8

[four-3] 1 2 Kiernan, p162

[two-4] 1 2 Kiernan, pp157–158.

[p159-5] Kiernan, p159

[6] Kiernan, pp153–154

[three-7] 1 2 Kiernan, pp156–157.

[8] Kiernan, p160

v t e Elections and referendums in Cambodia
General elections	1946 1947 1951 1955 1958 1962 1966 1972 1976 1981 1993 1998 2003 2008 2013 2018
Local elections	2002 2007 2012 2017
Presidential elections	1972
Referendums	1945 1955 1958 1959 1960 1961 1972