Cambodian general election, 2013

Cambodian general election, 2013
	← outgoing members elected members →
All 123 seats to the National Assembly ; 62 seats needed for a majority
Registered	9,675,453 19.07%
Turnout	6,735,244 (69.61%) 5.47%
Prime Minister before election; Hun Sen ; CPP	Elected Prime Minister ; Hun Sen ; CPP

Last updated March 17, 2019

General elections (Khmer : ការបោះឆ្នោតជ្រើសតាំងតំណាងរាស្ត្រ នីតិកាលទី៥ ឆ្នាំ២០១៣) were held in Cambodia on 28 July 2013.^[1] The National Election Committee (NEC) announced that some 9.67 million Cambodians were eligible to cast their ballots to elect the 123-seat National Assembly.^[2] Voter turnout was reported to be 69.6%, making it the lowest turnout in history.^[3] Polling precincts opened 7:00 a.m. and closed at 3:00 p.m. The Cambodian Minister of Information, Khieu Kanharith announced in preliminary results that the Cambodian People's Party won 68 seats and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party won all the remaining 55 seats. This election marked the largest seat loss by the Cambodian People's Party to date, and their lowest share of seats since 1998.

Khmer or Cambodian is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. With approximately 16 million speakers, it is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language. Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious registers, through Hinduism and Buddhism. The more colloquial registers have influenced, and have been influenced by, Thai, Lao, Vietnamese, and Cham, all of which, due to geographical proximity and long-term cultural contact, form a sprachbund in peninsular Southeast Asia. It is also the earliest recorded and earliest written language of the Mon–Khmer family, predating Mon and by a significant margin Vietnamese, due to Old Khmer being the language of the historical empires of Chenla, Angkor and, presumably, their earlier predecessor state, Funan.

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 National Election Committee is an independent agency that supervises the national elections of Cambodia.

Background

The previous parliamentary elections in 2008 were won by the Cambodian People's Party, which managed to secure an absolute majority of the seats: 90 out of 123. Despite winning a parliamentary majority, the CPP chose to form a coalition with the royalist FUNCINPEC, which won 2 seats. The opposition Sam Rainsy Party and Human Rights Party won a combined total of 29 seats. In 2012, the two parties merged to form the Cambodian National Rescue Party. However, party leader Sam Rainsy was barred from running as a candidate because he was not registered to vote.^[4] The voter roll was finalised on 31 December 2012, at which time Rainsy was living abroad after being controversially convicted in 2010 of making changes to a map to suggest the country was losing land to neighbouring Vietnam.^[5] Rainsy returned to Cambodia in July 2013 after he received a royal pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni,^[5] but Rainsy failed to have his name reinstated on the voter roll and was not eligible for candidacy in the election.^[4]

The Cambodian People's Party, founded as the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party, is the current ruling political party of Cambodia. It was the sole legal party in the country at the time of the People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979–1989) and during the first two years of the State of Cambodia. Its name was changed during the final years of the State of Cambodia, when the single-party system as well as the Marxist–Leninist ideology were abandoned. Having governed Cambodia since 1979, it is one of the longest-ruling parties in the world. The General Secretary of the party from 1979 to 1981 was Pen Sovan. The KPRP was originally a Marxist–Leninist party, although it took on a more reformist outlook in the mid-1980s under Heng Samrin's leadership. In the 1990s, the KPRP officially dropped its commitment to socialist ideology altogether when it renamed itself the Cambodian People's Party. It is also currently the oldest active party in Cambodia. Since 2018, the party commands all 125 seats in the National Assembly, and 58 of 62 seats in the Senate. Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, has served as the party's President since 2015.

FUNCINPEC, National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia in English, is a royalist political party in Cambodia. Founded in 1981 by Norodom Sihanouk, it started off as a resistance movement against the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) government. In 1982, it formed a resistance pact, the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), together with the Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) and the Khmer Rouge. It was one of the signatory parties of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, which paved the way for the formation of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). In 1992, FUNCINPEC became a political party and participated in the 1993 general elections organised by UNTAC. It won the elections, and formed a coalition government with the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), with which it jointly headed. Norodom Ranariddh, Sihanouk's son who had succeeded him as the party president, became First Prime Minister while Hun Sen, who was from the CPP, became Second Prime Minister.

The Human Rights Party or was a Cambodian political party founded on 22 July 2007 led by Kem Sokha.^{Critics allege that its foundation is meant to weaken opposition parties and is driven by the ruling party. This sentiment, however, seems to be driven by the ruling party themselves as Kem Sokha has long been a very vocal critic of the ruling CPP party.}

Debates

Cambodia had its first televised debate on 20 and 21 July. The US-funded National Democratic Institute also sponsored nine town hall-style debates with provincial candidates from almost all parties.^[6]

The National Democratic Institute (NDI), or National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that works with partners in developing countries to increase the effectiveness of democratic institutions. NDI's core program areas include citizen participation, elections, debates, democratic governance, democracy and technology, political inclusion of marginalized groups, and gender, women and democracy, peace and security, political parties, and youth political participation. The organization's stated mission is to "support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government."

Pre-election controversies

Voting eligibility issues

Since Cambodia had had no official population count for the last five years, the country's population figure is merely guesswork, which has led to incorrect projections of possible voters – making it difficult for the National Election Commission to ascertain the number of actual voters that should be listed in Cambodia's voting rolls. The lack of actual population count could have led to fraudulent voting, such as voters voting in multiple precincts using different names.^[7] According to the opposition CNRP, between 1.2 and 1.3 million names were omitted from voting rolls.^[8]

Migrant Vietnamese have also allegedly been able to register as voters due to lax identification policies in Cambodia. The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party played up this anti-Vietnamese rhetoric in campaigning leading up to the election.^[9]

The Vietnamese people or the Kinh people, are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population at the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam. The earliest recorded name for the ancient Vietnamese people appears as Lạc.

Indelible ink

One of the controversies that beset the Cambodian election before it even began was the use of an ostensibly indelible ink that was used to mark which voters had already voted.^[10] The ink had previously been donated by the Indian Embassy in Cambodia. Documentation by poll monitors before the election demonstrated the ink could simply be washed off using bleach or lime juice in minutes upon drying.^[9] The ink used could have perhaps allowed voters to vote more than once.^[10]

Results

The ruling CPP party received 48.83% of the votes, earned 68 seats, while the CNRP party won 55 seats with 44.46% of the vote. By losing 22 seats from the previous election, the CPP earned the fewest percentage of seats that it has had in the National Assembly since 1998.^[8] Other parties, including the Funcinpec Party and League for Democracy Party combined for 0 seats on 6.3% of the vote.^[11]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–

	Cambodian People's Party	3,235,969	48.83	68	–22
	Cambodia National Rescue Party	2,946,176	44.46	55	+26
	FUNCINPEC	242,413	3.66	0	–2
	League for Democracy Party	68,389	1.03	0	0
	Khmer Anti-Poverty Party	43,222	0.65	0	0
	Cambodian Nationality Party	38,123	0.58	0	New
	Khmer Economic Development Party	33,715	0.51	0	New
	Democratic Republican Party	19,152	0.29	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		108,085	–	–	–
Total		6,735,244	100	123	0
Registered voters/turnout		9,675,453	69.61	–	–
Source: COMFREL

↓
68	55
CPP	CNRP

Reactions

The CPP claimed victory in the election.^[12] The E.U. and U.S. expressed concern for the concern about possible irregularities, with the latter's State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki saying that "we call for a transparent and full investigation of all credible reports of irregularities. We urge all parties and their supporters to continue to act in an orderly and peaceful manner in the post-election period."^[13] Vietnam congratulated Cambodia on the success of its 5th General Elections.^[14] French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott sent their letter of endorsement, congratulating Hun Sen on his election win.^[15]

Aftermath

Though there were claims that the election would be "worthless" even before voting started,^[12] after the election, there were complaints of election fraud. Sam Rainsy, the leader of the CNRP, declared that "We will not accept the result – we cannot accept the result...The party in power cannot ignore us anymore."^[8] The international non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement that read that "the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) appears to have been involved in electoral fraud" and called for an "independent commission" to investigate "allegations of election fraud and other irregularities, including bias in the election machinery".^[7] Brad Adams, HRW's Asia Director, further stated that some of the fraud consisted of "senior ruling party officials appear to have been involved in issuing fake election documents and fraudulently registering voters in multiple provinces."^[7] The Cambodian government denied calls by international organisations for an independent election review,^[16] while the government rejected calls for a review^[13] and the National Election Committee (NEC) denied irregularities. There were also claims of voter intimidation as the ruling party controlled the apparatus of state control.^[12]

Thousands of CNRP supporters gathered in Phnom Penh in September to protest the results.^[17]

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References

↑ Country Profile IFES
↑ IFES
↑ "Voter turnout keeps falling". The Phnom Penh Post . 30 July 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
1 2 Cambodia’s Election Panel Rejects Sam Rainsy Request to Contest Polls Radio Free Asia, 22 July 2013
1 2 Opposition leader Sam Rainsy returns to Cambodia BBC News, 19 July 2013
↑ IFES
1 2 3 "Cambodia: Ruling Party Orchestrated Vote Fraud". Human Rights Watch. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
1 2 3 Fuller, Thomas (29 July 2013). "Cambodian Opposition Rejects Election Results". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
1 2 Fuller, Thomas (28 July 2013). "Ruling Party Wins Narrowly in Cambodian Vote". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
1 2 Carmichael, Robert (27 July 2013). "Cambodia Poll Monitors Report Problem With Indelible Ink". Voice of America. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
↑ COMFREL ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
1 2 3 "Cambodia opposition claims massive poll fraud – Asia-Pacific". Al Jazeera.
1 2 "Cambodia rejects call for poll fraud inquiry – Asia-Pacific". Al Jazeera.
↑ http://www.mofa.gov.vn/en/tt_baochi/pbnfn/ns130803160846 Remarks by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi on Cambodia’s general election
↑ "France, Australia Congratulate Hun Sen on Win". The Cambodia Daily . 14 October 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
↑ "Cambodia rejects election inquiry creating unrest amid fraud accusations". Daily News. New York. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
↑ "Cambodian opposition rallies for second day after protest death". Reuters. 16 September 2013.

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[1] Country Profile IFES

[2] IFES

[3] "Voter turnout keeps falling". The Phnom Penh Post . 30 July 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2016.

[RFA-4] 1 2 Cambodia’s Election Panel Rejects Sam Rainsy Request to Contest Polls Radio Free Asia, 22 July 2013

[BBC-5] 1 2 Opposition leader Sam Rainsy returns to Cambodia BBC News, 19 July 2013

[6] IFES

[hrw-7] 1 2 3 "Cambodia: Ruling Party Orchestrated Vote Fraud". Human Rights Watch. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013.

[NYT1-8] 1 2 3 Fuller, Thomas (29 July 2013). "Cambodian Opposition Rejects Election Results". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 July 2013.

[NYT2-9] 1 2 Fuller, Thomas (28 July 2013). "Ruling Party Wins Narrowly in Cambodian Vote". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 July 2013.

[VOA1-10] 1 2 Carmichael, Robert (27 July 2013). "Cambodia Poll Monitors Report Problem With Indelible Ink". Voice of America. Retrieved 31 July 2013.

[11] COMFREL ^{[ permanent dead link ]}

[aljaz-12] 1 2 3 "Cambodia opposition claims massive poll fraud – Asia-Pacific". Al Jazeera.

[aljaz2-13] 1 2 "Cambodia rejects call for poll fraud inquiry – Asia-Pacific". Al Jazeera.

[14] ttp://www.mofa.gov.vn/en/tt_baochi/pbnfn/ns130803160846 Remarks by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi on Cambodia’s general election

[15] "France, Australia Congratulate Hun Sen on Win". The Cambodia Daily . 14 October 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2014.

[16] "Cambodia rejects election inquiry creating unrest amid fraud accusations". Daily News. New York. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013.

[17] "Cambodian opposition rallies for second day after protest death". Reuters. 16 September 2013.

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