PHNOM PENH, December 21, 2011 (Cambodia Herald) – With more than nine million people registered to vote in commune and national elections in coming years, young voters have emerged as the most important group for which political parties have to compete.
"Young people aged between 18 and 35 years represent 54 percent of the total registered voters," Tep Nitha, secretary general of the National Election Committee (NEC), told the Cambodia Herald.
"Youth is playing a very important role in political decision making; they are the future of Cambodia," he said.
Chan Sovannara, a student who just graduated from Royal University of Phnom Penh, said he didn't care much about the elections. “I just want the winner to do the right thing to benefit our society,” he said.
Despite his lack of interest, he said he will still vote out of a sense of social duty. "At least I can vote for the party I like," he said.
Commune elections are scheduled for June 3, 2012 and national elections for 2013.
More than 90,000 new voters have registered for the commune elections, boosting the the total number 9.4 million already. Tep Nitha said the number of new voters was increasing every year by between two and three percent.
Statistics from the NEC show that voter turnout in commune elections fell from 87.55 percent in 2002 to 67.87 percent in 2007.
While turnout decreased, however, Tep Nitha note that the actual number of voters increased, indicating that more people had registered to vote.
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