Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen and leader of the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) waves to supporters during an election campaign rally in Phnom Penh. - AFP
PHNOM PENH, June 27 (Xinhua): The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen has thanked the Cambodian people for overwhelmingly voting for it in the fifth commune council election held on June 5.
The election was to choose a total of 11,622 councilors for the Southeast Asian country's 1,652 communes for the next five years.
The National Election Committee (NEC)'s official results showed that the CPP won 9,376 seats, including 1,648 commune chief posts, while the main opposition Candlelight Party gained 2,198 seats, including four commune chief posts.
Seven other parties got the remaining 48 seats, the NEC said.
In its statement, the CPP said the party has accepted the election's results, which truly reflected the will of people, and that the election was free and fair, with neither violence nor intimidation.
"The Cambodian People's Party would like to express its deepest gratitude to our compatriots in all communes across the country who voted overwhelmingly for the CPP, giving the party a glorious success," the statement said.
This victory showed that the people voted for peace and development, which are more valuable than anything else, and at the same time strengthened the basis for the CPP to win another victory in the upcoming seventh National Assembly election in 2023, it added.
The statement said the party would honor its policies to maintain peace, stability, security, and social order, to improve the provision of public services, to increase social protection for the poor and vulnerable, and to develop communes in all fields to benefit people.
The commune election is seen as a bellwether of the political party's support ahead of the general election scheduled for July 2023.
Communes are the subdivisions of districts and municipalities in Cambodia. - Xinhua
