As people across the country took to polling stations to vote their local leaders in the 5th mandate commune council elections on the morning of June 5, Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany also cast their ballots amid a throng of voters and reporters in Kandal province's Takhmao town, just outsides the capital.

Voting begins from 7am to 3pm, with 17 political parties contesting the elections and 86,092 candidates -- 27,813 of them women -- fielded across the country, according to the premier's official Facebook page.

A total of 11,622 councillors are to be elected for the 1,652 communes of the Kingdom's 25 capital and provinces.

According to the National Election Committee (NEC), there are 23,602 polling stations nationwide, with 9,205,681 people, or 87.94 per cent of the Kingdom's population, registered to vote. Among the eligible voters, 4,904,832 are women.

To help ensure transparency, NEC said more than 7,000 national and international observers from 76 organisations have registered to oberve the elections.