Observers, party representatives and NEC officials observe ballot counting at Koh Dach commune in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changvar district during last year’s commune elections. Hong Menea
The National Election Committee (NEC) announced the formal recognition of 57,012 political party agents for the forthcoming general election on July 23. This cohort includes 16,624 women, making a noteworthy contribution to gender diversity in this democratic process.
According to a press release by NEC on July 3, a total of 18 political parties are set to participate in the upcoming election. The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) will have the broadest deployment of party agents across all polling stations, closely followed by FUNCINPEC. The remaining 16 parties, however, have limited their deployment due to resource constraints.
NEC spokesperson Hang Puthea confirmed the registration of these party agents on July 4.
“We formally recognised 57,012 political party agents after a registration period from June 14-20,” he stated.
Puthea went on to differentiate between the roles of observers and party agents.
“Observers watch, listen, and document various actions, but are prohibited from commenting or expressing opinions within polling stations,” he clarified. “In contrast, political party agents hold similar rights and responsibilities as observers, but also have the ability to voice concerns and contest decisions made by heads of polling stations.”
The executive director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (NICFEC), Sam Kuntheamy, noted the majority of party agents were affiliated with the CPP. He highlighted the inability of other parties to similarly deploy agents at all polling stations due to limited resources and funds.
“We don’t regulate the spending of the political parties. Some parties have funds for robust campaigns and agent deployment, while others can’t even afford basic necessities for their members, let alone extensive agent networks,” Kuntheamy said.
Nhoeun Raden, spokesman for FUNCINPEC, told The Post that his party had fielded candidates for only 18 of the 25 constituencies and hence did not deploy agents to all of the 23,789 polling stations across the country.
Yet, he stressed a shift from previous practices, highlighting their call for party members to voluntarily observe the election.
“Despite having over 5,000 agents, a figure smaller than the CPP, we remain confident in the NEC and civil society organisations’ role in ensuring a fair and accurate election,” Raden concluded.
