{"id":1517853,"date":"2024-02-23T21:13:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T21:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/cambodia\/senate-election-02232024161208.html"},"modified":"2024-02-23T21:13:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T21:13:00","slug":"cambodia-gears-up-for-senate-election-on-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/02\/23\/cambodia-gears-up-for-senate-election-on-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Cambodia gears up for Senate election on Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

Cambodia is set to hold elections for its Senate on Sunday that the ruling Cambodian People\u2019s Party will almost certainly win, which would make former Prime Minister Hun Sen president of the body, allowing him to serve as acting head of state when King Norodom Sihamoni is unavailable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Senate president, Hun Sen, 71, would replace Say Chhum, who is expected to retire. Hun Sen was prime minister from 1985 until last August, when he stepped down in a long-planned move that allowed for his eldest son, Hun Manet, to be appointed to the position.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In theory, the Senate is meant to act as a check on the National Assembly, but in practice in Cambodia \u2013 where the CPP is so dominant \u2013 it is essentially a rubber stamp body.<\/span><\/p>\n

The election is being held under a party-list proportional representation system in which parties submit lists of candidates. The National Election Committee, or NEC, will determine from vote totals how many seats in each constituency region are distributed to each party.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cambodia\u2019s Constitution allows the king to nominate two senators and the National Assembly to nominate another two, with voters choosing the remaining 58 seats, for a total of 62 seats.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Friday, the four parties contesting the election wrapped up a 14-day campaign period. The law requires that campaign activities for the Senate election end 24 hours before election day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ENG_KHM_SenateElection_02232024.2.jpg\"\n
Former Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen votes during a meeting at the National Assembly building in Phnom Penh, Feb. 21, 2024. (Cambodia National Assembly via AFP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The other three parties competing are the Khmer Will Party, the royalist Funcinpec Party and the <\/span>newly formed<\/span><\/a> National Power Party.<\/span><\/p>\n

The CPP held meetings and broadcast speeches through public address systems at party offices in all of the eight constituency regions during the campaign period.<\/span><\/p>\n

CPP Vice President Sar Kheng told a crowd in Prey Veng province that the Senate election is important to rebuild the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI appeal to his excellency [lawmakers] and commune councils across Prey Veng to go to vote Feb. 25, for the CPP for the sake of the country\u2019s fate, people and yourself,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bridge to future elections<\/b><\/p>\n

Khmer Will Party President Sok Hach told supporters in Battambang province that a good result in Sunday\u2019s Senate election will help the party build toward the next local commune elections in three years and the 2028 general election.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is the 2027 and 2028 elections. This is a bridge to that,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

About 500 supporters of the National Power Party marched along National Route 6 in Kampong Thom province on Friday. The party\u2019s president, Sun Chanthy, asked supporters to vote for the party to restore democracy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnly the National Power Party can revive democratic process in Cambodia for the sake of the 2027 and 2028 elections. I appeal to people to support the party,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe ruling party, Funcinpec, National Power Party and Khmer Will Party conducted election campaigns respectfully. Security and order was good,\u201d NEC spokesman Hang Puthea said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is good cooperation between the NEC, parties and authorities,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Voting is set to take place on Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 33 polling stations in the eight regions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n \n \n


\r\nThis content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia<\/a> and was authored by By RFA Khmer.
<\/p>\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Prime Minister Hun Sen is set to take on a new role as Senate president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27689,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2242,7708,1841,42614,42620,74971,785,27149,1265,27150,45475],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517853"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27689"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1517853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1517854,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517853\/revisions\/1517854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1517853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1517853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1517853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}