Cambodia's Election Body Cites Legal Constraints on Overseas Voting

Cambodia's election body says that they are working to ensure citizens can register and exercise their right to vote, including displaced people who are unable to return home due to the border dispute. However, longstanding calls by civil society and opposition figures to allow Cambodians living abroad to register to vote remain unaddressed. Overseas voting has been a concern among election monitoring and opposition parties, who argued that Cambodian citizens living and working abroad are equally entitled to cast their ballot. The National Election Committee (NEC) held a workshop at the National Education Institute in Phnom Penh on Friday to disseminate information about the election process to stakeholders, including councilors, as it prepares the voter list for 2027 commune election. The commune election has been scheduled for June next year, NEC chairman Prach Chan said, adding that every citizen has the right to register and participate in the electoral process based on the Cambodian Constitution. He mentioned that there were requests made by groups in the past with regard to voter registration, which he said was “based on their own wishes”, for Cambodians living abroad to be permitted to vote. “They want us to do the same as in other countries, but our law does not have [that mandate]. It is impossible,” Chan said, asserting that the electoral process is based on the Constitution and election law, as well as regulations and procedures. He pointed out that the 2026 voter registration is taking place under difficult conditions given the condition along the Cambodia-Thailand border, including the alleged occupation by Thai military of Cambodia territory. As of now, over 20,000 displaced people are still not able to return home, leading the provincial election secretariat to carry out its work at border provinces. Some 13,000 people aged 18 and older, including 10,890 people who are currently displaced, have registered as voters, he said. According to Chan, NEC has played an independent and neutral role since the 1998 election, by managing the electoral process fairly and transparently. “I believe that any work will always have issues. Any task is bound to have some mistakes, but what is the level of those mistakes and what is the level of fairness,” Chan said. Policy and advocacy coordinator Korn Savang of Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel), an election watchdog, said they “generally understand” how NEC operates in accordance with the law “when it comes to overseas voter registration”. “There is no provision prohibiting the NEC from proposing amendments to the law or recommendations to the government to enable voter registration outside the country. There is nothing stopping them,” he added. “We believe the NEC should report the gaps in the law so that the voter registration process can be implemented successfully. Other countries in Asia have already done this,” Savang mentioned. Commune council elections are scheduled for June 6, 2027, which would see 1,652 communes nationwide going to the polls. As of 2025, the voter list stood over 10 million. NEC urged the public to register this year and review the list. In previous commune elections, the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) claimed more than 74% of the popular vote with leading opposition Candlelight Party gaining 22.3%. Senator Kong Monika of Khmer Will Party said elections have to improve and be more transparent, noting that the “NEC continues to make excuses that it is merely implementing the law” and “has no authority to do anything beyond it”. “They [NEC] have the right to propose to the Royal Government or relevant institutions to make amendments or improve laws and procedures. This would ensure that the electoral process, which they believe can be improved, to become better than before,” he said. “They have every right to do it, however, I observe that they have not considered bringing these issues forward for implementation,” Monika said. According to the Constitution, Cambodians living abroad possess equal rights as those in the country, including the right to register and vote, he stated.