Ten political parties will vie for commune chiefdom in the upcoming June 3 elections, the National Election Committee’s official preliminary candidate report said yesterday.

The 10 political parties that submitted preliminary candidate lists to the NEC were all accepted to run in the Kingdom’s third-ever commune election, according to the report.

Cambodia has 1,633 communes and only the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party has indicated it will run candidates in every commune.

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party was the second-most ambitious party, with plans to run candidates in 1,621 communes.

Funcinpec, Hu­man Rights Party and Norodom Ran­ariddh Party each indicated they will run candidates in more than 1,000 communes.

The remaining parties contending are the Alliance for Democracy Party, Democratic Movement Party, Cambodian Nationality Party, Khmer Anti-Poverty Party, and the Republican Demo­cracy Party.

Official candidate lists are still being finalised, the NEC said.

SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said the party intended to submit 20,000 candidates to the NEC while CPP Central Committee member Cheam Yeap said the ruling party would put forward 12,000 candidates and 12,000 reserve candidates for the elections.

9.2 million voters are eligible to vote in the June 3 election, according to NEC voter list.