THE municipal, provincial, town and district council elections for the fourth term kicked off in Cambodia, with five political parties taking part in the race, a National Election Committee (NEC) spokesperson said.
“A total of 209 polling stations across the country was open at 7am local time and are due to close at 3pm (yesterday),” said Dim Sovannarom, a NEC spokesperson.
The non-universal elections were voted by 11,622 sitting commune chiefs and councillors – typically along party lines – for 4,200 municipal, provincial, town and district councilors, he said.
The elections are divided into two, Sovannarom said, adding that one election is to elect 559 municipal and provincial councilors, and the other is to decide 3,641 town and district council seats.
Five political parties were expected to stand in the elections, namely the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), the Khmer Will Party, the Nation Power Party, the Funcinpec Party, and the Khmer National United Party, the spokesperson said.
In the last council elections in May 2019, the CPP swept 4,034, or 98%, of the then 4,114 positions across the kingdom. — Xinhua
