Cambodia: The Cambodian People's Party Consolidates Power

Summary

This chapter reviews major domestic and foreign policy developments in Cambodia in 2008. Three major issues are highlighted: the fourth national elections, the border dispute with Thailand, and the proceedings of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of economic trends and a review of Cambodia's external relations.

National Elections

Cambodia held national elections on 27 July; they were the fourth general elections to be held since the end of the Cambodian conflict in 1991. In 2007, the National Electoral Committee (NEC) revised its national voter list and removed 586,160 names due to death, duplication and other reasons. The list of deregistered voters was displayed publicly for thirty-five days and citizens were given the right to contest their deletion. According to a U.S. Embassy assessment, “virtually all who took steps to protest the deletion of their names were re-instated”. Nonetheless, an audit by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) found that as many as 57,401 voters (or 0.7 per cent of the total) were deleted. This figure was challenged by the NEC and reduced to 49,340 voters (or 0.6 per cent of the total) who “may [have been]… improperly and unintentionally” disenfranchised. The U.S Embassy noted that the deletion of as many as 57,000 legitimate voters “was a high price to pay for the successful removal of over 450,000 ghost voters”. The final official list totalled 8,125,529 registered voters.

In 2008 Cambodia had fifty-three officially registered political parties. Only twelve parties applied to contest the elections during the official registration period from 28 April to 12 May. Eleven political parties were approved (see Table 1). The NEC also approved a total of 2,479 candidates (titular and alternate) and rejected the applications of 213. Only five political parties won seats: Cambodian People's Party (CPP), Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), Human Rights Party (HRP), FUNCINPEC (National United Front for Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Co-operative Cambodia) and the Norodom Ranariddth Party (NRP).