The one surprising feature of the recent municipal elections in Cambodia was the modest success of the Human Rights Party.  The party had 800 councillors elected and won control of 18 communes among a total of 14,549 councillors and 1,633 communes.  The Human Rights Party is small and has no sophisticated political organization or public relations policy.  Few political commentators predicted such an outcome for this tiny party.  The massive success of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party with 8,283 councillors and 1,592 communes was predictable.  The Sam Rainsy party lost control of six communes going down from 28 to 22 communes.  

One private Khmer blog, with the curious name of “air defence”, has highlighted this surprising aspect of the municipal election by comparing these 2012 results with the 2007 results across four areas as follows:

Councils controlled by the CPP

This blog is quietly pointing out that the opposition parties are making progress in the provinces that have a border issue with either Vietnam or Thailand.

If this trend continues over the next year, the Cambodian People’s Party would lose seats in the Parliamentary Elections scheduled for 2013.  So the new Human Rights Party councillors can expect to be offered all kinds of internal inducements and external pressures to defect from their party during the next year!   An alliance between the two opposition parties, the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party, is a being discussed by the respective leaders.        

Fr Ashley Evans SJ was missioned from Ireland to Cambodia in 1993, and has lived there ever since.  He teaches mathematics and philosophy at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and theology at the local seminary.  For many years, he worked as Director of the Catholic Church Student Centre in Phnom Penh.