PHNOM PENH: The Chairman of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee, Keo Remy, said that the fifth mandate Commune / Sangkat Council election results reflect the logic based on the parties.

Speaking after a meeting with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia (OHCHR), the Chairman of the CHRC, Keo Remy, said that the results of the 5th Mandate Commune/Sangkat Council Election were logical, based on the distribution of support between the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), with more than 5 million votes, and the Candlelight Party, with 1.6 million votes.

He explained, "If we compare the votes in 2017, the CPP received 3.5 million votes, the CNRP, along with the Human Rights Party and Candlelight Party got 3 million. When the Candlelight Party lost a partner and did not have the Human Rights Party join because Kem Sokha did not participate in the election, it lost about half of its support, that is logically reflected in the number of votes that the Candlelight Party got, which is 1.6 million, and which is equal to half [the votes the CNRP got before]. We have increased the size of the population and support received by the CPP, the swing vote has increased by more than 5 million votes."

He also stated that the Commune/Sangkat Council Election of the Fifth Mandate is multi-party election, which gives the people the right to choose their preferred local leader to serve the interests of the public.

He further extended his congratulations to the Candlelight Party for winning more than 2,000 seats.

The 5th Commune/Sangkat Council Election was held on Sunday, 5 June, to elect 11,622 Commune/Sangkat seats nationwide out of 1,652 Communes. Nearly 7.3 million people went to vote for the election, equivalent to more than 80% of the 9.2 million registered voters.

^{PHOTO: EAC NEWS}