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All 123 seats in theNational Assembly 62 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 83.22% ( 10.52pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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General elections were held inCambodia on 27 July 2003 to elect members of theNational Assembly. The elections were won by the rulingCambodian People's Party, which won a majority of 73 seats in the 123-seat parliament. However, due to the requirement for a two-thirds majority to elect a Prime Minister, a new government was not formed until July 2004 when a deal was reached with theFUNCINPEC party. Hun Sen was subsequently re-elected the post of Prime Minister.
Cambodia became a democracy in the early 1990s with thefirst democratic elections held in 1993.[1] After both elections during the 1990s the Cambodian People's Party formed coalition governments with the royalist FUNCINPEC party.[1] Theprevious elections in 1998 saw significant violence and intimidation of opposition supporters.[2] It took place a year after FUNCINPEC had been violently ousted from the coalition government by the Cambodian People's Party.[3] However following the election they once more formed a coalition with Hun Sen asPrime Minister and FUNCINPEC's leader PrinceNorodom Ranarridh, the son ofKingNorodom Sihanouk, as his deputy.[1]
In local elections in 2002 the Cambodian People's Party performed strongly leading in 1,597 of the 1,621communes of Cambodia.[4] Meanwhile, FUNCINPEC suffered a setback dropping to only 22% of the vote.[4]
The run-up to the election saw some violence including the killing of ajudge and a royalist politician,[5] however it was much reduced from previous elections.[6] During the campaign theUnited States Secretary of StateColin Powell visited Cambodia, met all three main party leaders and called on all parties to have fair coverage in the media.[1] The opposition were able to get some time on television during thecampaign,[4] but there were many reports in rural areas of voters being intimidated by the Cambodian People's Party.[7] In total 22 parties contested the election but only three were seen as real contenders in the election.[8]
The Cambodian People's Party had control of much of themedia in Cambodia, the most money and a superiorparty machine.[2] The party campaigned on theeconomic development they said that they were bringing to Cambodia and in the March before the election they announced a 1.5 billiondollar program to counterpoverty.[2] The party and their leader Hun Sen won support from voters due to their presiding over the most peaceful period in the countries recent history after ending the rule of theKhmer Rouge.[4] The party had the strongest support inrural areas of Cambodia, but younger voters inurban areas were more desirous of change and therefore supportive of the opposition.[9]
The two main opposition parties criticised the government of Hun Sen for its corruption and pledged to improve health and education in Cambodia.[8] FUNCINPEC called for reform of the economy and for moreforeign investment, but their leader,Norodom Ranariddh, was seen as being ineffective and his party's popularity was in decline.[2][8] Meanwhile, theSam Rainsy Party criticised corruption, pledged more money for health, education andcivil servant pay and attempted to attract the poor.[8] The party had grown in strength since the previous election but their leaderSam Rainsy was seen as being authoritarian.[2]
Voter turnout in the election was high with over 80% castingballots.[10] The results saw the Cambodian People's Party win a clear majority of seats but fell short of the two-thirds majority required in order to elect a Prime Minister on their own.[11] FUNCINPEC lost ground dropping from the 31% they had won in 1998 to only just over 20% this time, while the Sam Rainsy Party rose to 22% from 14% in 1998.[12]
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Cambodian People's Party | 2,447,259 | 47.35 | 73 | +9 | |
| FUNCINPEC | 1,072,313 | 20.75 | 26 | –17 | |
| Sam Rainsy Party | 1,130,423 | 21.87 | 24 | +9 | |
| Khmer Democratic Party | 95,927 | 1.86 | 0 | 0 | |
| The Rice Party | 76,086 | 1.47 | 0 | New | |
| Indra Buddra Party | 62,338 | 1.21 | 0 | New | |
| Khmer Soul Party | 56,010 | 1.08 | 0 | New | |
| Cambodian Development Party | 36,838 | 0.71 | 0 | New | |
| Khmer Angkor Party | 26,385 | 0.51 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cambodian Women's Party | 23,538 | 0.46 | 0 | New | |
| Khmer Front Party | 20,272 | 0.39 | 0 | New | |
| Khmer Unity Party | 18,309 | 0.35 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hang Dara Democratic Movement Party | 15,671 | 0.30 | 0 | New | |
| Khmer Spiritual Aspiration Party | 14,342 | 0.28 | 0 | New | |
| Kon Khmer Party | 14,018 | 0.27 | 0 | New | |
| Union of National Solidarity Party | 11,676 | 0.23 | 0 | New | |
| Khmer Help Khmer | 9,482 | 0.18 | 0 | New | |
| Farmer's Party | 9,449 | 0.18 | 0 | New | |
| Molinaka and the Khmer Freedom Fighters Party | 6,808 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cambodian Free Independent Democratic Party | 6,806 | 0.13 | 0 | New | |
| Khmer Citizens' Party | 6,526 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | |
| National Khmer Party | 4,232 | 0.08 | 0 | New | |
| Liberal Democratic Party | 4,129 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 5,168,837 | 100.00 | 123 | +1 | |
| Valid votes | 5,168,837 | 97.94 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 108,657 | 2.06 | |||
| Total votes | 5,277,494 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 6,341,834 | 83.22 | |||
| Source:IFES,EU | |||||
Following the election, FUNCINPEC and the Sam Rainsy Party refused to attend parliament and formed an "Alliance of Democrats" in order to block Hun Sen from being elected Prime Minister again.[13] They rejected the official results and said that they had been manipulated by the Cambodian People's Party.[11] After initiallyboycotting parliament the two parties were persuaded by the King to attend theswearing in at the end of September, but remained firm in rejecting joining a government led by Hun Sen.[14] However, despite no government being formed, acaretaker administration run by Hun Sen and the Cambodian People's Party was able to continue.[14]
A provisional agreement was said to have been reached in November on a three party government led by Hun Sen but the opposition later denied this.[13] Personal dislike between the three parties and the opposition of the Cambodia People's Party to a three party government meantnegotiations on forming a government dragged on into 2004.[13] Eventually, 11 months after the election,[15] towards the end of June 2004 the Cambodia People's Party and FUNCINPEC reached an agreement under whichministerial seats would be divided up 60-40 between them and Hun Sen would remain Prime Minister.[16] On the 15 July 2004 the Cambodian parliament finally approved the new government with 96 of the 123 members voting in favour.[17] There was a significant increase in the number of ministers to 207, including 7deputy prime ministers and 180cabinet ministers, in order to reach agreement on the new government.[15]
