The election in Takeo province’s 1,585 polling stations went smoothly on Sunday, though it was relatively quiet compared to the 2013 national polls and the 2017 commune council elections, officials from the provincial election committee (PEC) and participating political parties said.
Nuon Saren, head of Takeo PEC, said there were no hurdles except that some people did not bring along relevant documents for verification purposes, and so could not vote.
“There haven’t been any problems and we are waiting for the preliminary results,” he said.
Yang Saing Koma, the prime ministerial candidate for the Grassroots Democratic Party (GDP) who cast his vote in the province’s Tram Kak district, said although the situation was relatively good, more needed to be done to address the issue of voters’ freedom and fairness in the elections.
“Though there is no violence ... the elections still has loopholes. If we talk about fairness and transparency, it is not good yet,” he said, without specifying reasons for saying this.
Saing Koma said he expected to gain some seats given high turnout in the province.
Kim Moul, 72, from Por Pel commune, said the election was quiet compared to the previous polls.
“In the commune council elections, there were more people standing in the queue and there was no space to park the motorbikes, but this election is quiet,” he said.
Chea Rotha, a villager from Bati district, said he did not cast his vote because his favourite party was not on the ballot.
“We can say some people are not satisfied because there is no party they like, so they don’t care about this election,” he said.
