The National Election Committee (NEC) has officially accepted the registration of three political parties along with candidates to run in the Bokor municipal council election in Kampot province.

In a press release dated May 10, NEC said it was the last day for political parties to register their party and their list of candidates for the election.

"Within five days of these two registration applications, the Kampot provincial election commission has received applications from four political parties that have applied to run candidates for election to the Bokor town council, which will take place on July 25," NEC said.

The government on March 16 decided to create Bokor town in Kampot province’s Bokor area by taking three communes from Teuk Chhou district, in a move intended to ease administration of the area and aid development.

The three parties that have officially registered include the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), Cambodian Nationality Party (NNP) and Cambodian Youth Party (CYP). The fourth party, FUNCINPEC, was the last party to submit an application for registration. The provincial election commission will rule on whether their application is valid at a later date.

According to NEC, each party has nominated between 26 and 28 candidates for the council.

CNP president Seng Sokheng said even if CNP does not have a seat in the National Assembly or a constituency in this area, the party is happy to participate in all activities to support free and fair elections.

Sokheng said that in a liberal multi-party democracy people would definitely want to see participation from all political parties, and local voters would then have a choice of different candidates, parties and platforms.

"All of our candidates will campaign to seek support from the constituencies in the town. This is not a general election so we’ll let our candidates do the campaigning with the electorate themselves. This election only concerns three communes, which is not much," he said.