Cambodian election officials count ballots as Sovannarom Dim (center), a member of the National Election Committee and chief of quick reaction information team of NEC, observes at a polling station during local commune elections in Phnom Penh on June 5, 2022. (TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP)
PHNOM PENH – Polls closed in the fifth commune elections in Cambodia on Sunday, a National Election Committee (NEC) member said.
"All 23,602 polling stations across the country closed as planned at 3 pm local time," NEC member Dim Sovannarom told Xinhua. "It's initially estimated that the voter turnout is more than 70 percent."
Seventeen political parties contested in the polls, with the ruling Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and the opposition Candlelight Party being the major contestants
Sovannarom said the general situation on the polling day was good, and no remarkable incidents were reported.
Seventeen political parties contested in the polls, with the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and the opposition Candlelight Party being the major contestants.
The NEC said some 9.2 million people had registered to cast their ballots to choose commune chiefs and councilors for the country's 1,652 communes.
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The preliminary election results are expected to be announced on Sunday evening and Monday morning, and the official results will be released on June 26.
Held once every five years, the commune elections are seen as a bellwether of the party's support ahead of the general elections in 2023.
In the last commune elections in June 2017, the ruling CPP swept 1,156 communes out of the then-1,646 communes.
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