ANFREL final report: 2002 Cambodia commune/sangkat council elections

The report was the result of ANFREL's missions to observe Cambodia's 2002 commune council elections from 25 December 2001 to 25 February 2002. A group of nine experienced long-term observers chosen from a the network of ANFREL in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia were deployed to work with COMFREL in selected constituencies. On the election day, ANFREL observers visited all 24 provinces to monitor voting and counting in more than 400 polling stations. Despite its important step in establishing democracy in the country, the 2002 commune council election was reported with many concerns: violence and intimidation, weak enforcement of the election laws, and monopoly of the ruling party in the election process to influence the voter choices.