Ten political parties running in the July national election have not registered even a single party agent to observe voting and ballot counting at the more than 23,000 polling stations across the country.
The National Election Committee on July 3 released the final list of registered party agents for all 18 parties contesting the election. The results show that 10 parties will not have a single person in polling stations to monitor whether election and voting procedures are being followed correctly.
The 10 parties are the Dharmacracy Party, Khmer Nationality Party, Khmer United Party, Cambodian Indigenous Peoples Party, Women for Women Party, Democracy Power Party, Grassroots Democracy Party, People’s Purpose Party, Farmer’s Party and Khmer Conservative Party.
Of the 10, the Dharmacracy Party, Khmer Nationality Party, Khmer United Party have at least one candidate in all 25 provinces but not a single party agent to monitor their candidates’ prospects on July 23.
These minor parties are often cited by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party to support their assertion that Cambodia has a multiparty democracy with free and fair elections.
Of the parties with registered agents, the CPP unsurprisingly has an agent in all 23,789 polling stations across the country, with an equal number of reserves to fill in for any absentees.
However, more established political parties like Funcinpec, which has contested elections since 1993, and the Khmer National United Party have agents in only 20% and 14% of polling stations across the country, respectively, despite fielding candidates for all 125 National Assembly seats.
The Khmer Anti-Poverty Party was able to nominate 125 candidates for the election, but could only muster 17 party agents in two provinces. The Cambodian Youth Party, Ekpheap Cheat Khmer Party, Khmer Economic Development Party and Beehive Social Democratic Party have near zero presence in polling stations.
Last week, Human Rights Watch released research showing irregularities with the controversial 1102 form — which records vote counts at each polling station — from last year’s 2022 commune election, including at stations where the only party observer was from the CPP.
| Political Party | Total Provinces Contesting | Provinces With Agents | Total Polling Stations in Contested Provinces | Approved Agents | Percentage of Polling Stations With Agents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambodian People’s Party | 25 | 25 | 23,789 | 23,789 | 100.0 |
| Cambodian Youth Party | 25 | 6 | 23,789 | 153 | 0.6 |
| Khmer National United Party | 25 | 20 | 23,789 | 3,399 | 14.3 |
| Dharmacracy Party | 25 | 0 | 23,789 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Khmer Nationality Party | 25 | 0 | 23,789 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Khmer United Party | 25 | 0 | 23,789 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Funcinpec | 25 | 18 | 23,789 | 4,862 | 20.4 |
| Khmer Anti-Poverty Party | 25 | 2 | 23,789 | 17 | 0.1 |
| Cambodian Indigenous Peoples Party | 22 | 0 | 18,472 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Women for Women Party | 18 | 0 | 13,917 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Democracy Power Party | 12 | 0 | 12,166 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Grassroots Democracy Party | 12 | 0 | 16,000 | 0 | 0.0 |
| People’s Purpose Party | 9 | 0 | 9,449 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Farmer’s Party | 8 | 0 | 9,609 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Ekpheap Cheat Khmer Party | 7 | 3 | 9,223 | 139 | 1.5 |
| Khmer Economic Development Party | 7 | 2 | 10,928 | 6 | 0.1 |
| Khmer Conservative Party | 7 | 0 | 9,427 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Beehive Social Democratic Party | 6 | 1 | 10,189 | 15 | 0.1 |