Did CLP Win the Majority of the 2022 Commune Election?
The 2022 commune election was held on Sunday 05 this month, and the preliminary result of the election had already been announced by Cambodia’s electoral body. Just a day after the election, a viral claim on social media said the country’s opposition Candlelight Party (CLP) won more than 4.35 million votes, equivalent to 56 percent of the voters. This means the opposition won the majority of the subnational election across the country. However, after reviewing the result of the election published by the electoral body, we found out the claim is false.
Social Media Claim
A claim on social media said Cambodia’s opposition Candlelight Party (CLP) won more than 4.34 million votes, equivalent to 56 percent of the country’s total voters turned out for the 2022 commune election.
The claim had been widely shared by Khmer-speaking social media users along with a mixture of comments and reactions.
Below is the capture of the claim on Facebook saying “[…] The Candlelight Party has 56 percent, equivalent to 4,347,600 voters. Where are they now? Please H.E. Prach Chan, President of the National Election Committee bring back the 56 percent or 904 commune seats and return them to voters.”
Fact Check
Fact Crescendo Cambodia began an investigation into the claim by reviewing the result of the 2022 commune election published by the National Election Committee (NEC), a report made by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, and interviews with relevant parties. Then, we found out the facts below.
We found a two-page report describing the result of the 2022 commune election. The report was made by Cambodia’s ruling CPP a day after the local election and circulated on social media.
CPP spokesman Sok Eysan acknowledged this report, saying it was an unofficial reflection internally submitted by the party’s officials to predict the next election.
The report shows Prime Minister Hun Sen’s party CPP won 5.35 million votes or equivalent to 74.40 percent of the total voters who turned out for the election on Sunday 05 June.
The report also shows the opposition CLP won more than 1.6 million votes or equivalent to 22.23 percent of the local election.
CLP spokesperson Thach Setha told Fact Crescendo Cambodia through Telegram that the report was summarized by the ruling party CPP and that his political party also did the same summary.
Being asked for the detail of the internal report from CLP, Thach Setha told to wait for the official result of the 2022 election which would be announced by NEC nearly the end of this month.
NEC spokesperson Hang Puthea confirmed the report made by CPP, saying it was just an internal summery, but the official result would be announced soon.
The official result of the 2022 commune election was scheduled to be released on Sunday 26 June, 21 days after the election.
Before the official result, however, NEC had already announced the preliminary result just hours after the election. Both the preliminary result and the temporary one are available on the electoral body’s web portal here.
A compilation made by Fact Crescendo Cambodia for the result of the temporary result shows the ruling party CPP won 5,355,035 ballots while the opposition CLP won the second majority with 1,604,962 ballots.
Please see the compilation made by Fact Crescendo Cambodia for the 2022 commune election via a link available here.
The official result of the 2022 commune election announced by NEC on Sunday 26 June shows CLP won 1.61 million ballots, equivalent to 22.25 percent of the total votes, and CPP received 5.37 million or 74.32 percent of the election.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo Cambodia found the claim mentioned above is false. The official result announced by Cambodia’s electoral body shows the opposition Candlelight Party won the second majority of the 2022 commune election with more than 1.6 million votes. Meanwhile, Cambodia’s ruling CPP received more than 5.37 million votes.
