Cambodia holds its first time national Senate election on Sunday.

According to the Constitution promulgated in 1993 the Kingdom had a single-chamber Parliament.

The Senate was created as an upper house by constitutional amendment in March 1999, with Cambodian People's Party (CPP) President Chea Sim as the head.

The Senate is empowered to initiate and review laws just as the National Assembly does, act as coordinator between the government and the Assembly, and play a role to amend or veto legislation passed by the National Assembly.

The president of the Senate will also be acting head of state in the illness or absence of the King.

The Senate consists of 61 members at least 40 years of age, with a term of six years.

For the first term, 59 out of 61 Senate members were appointed by the three major parties in proportion to their seats in the lower chamber. The remaining two were appointed by the King.

But the second mandate of the Senate will be different from the first one. In the second mandate, 57 Senators will be elected and will have a representative identity for communal council rallied in eight regions. The remaining four will be appointed by the National Assembly and the King, who can chose two representatives each.

The election will not be by universal suffrage. Only 11,261 commune councilors throughout the country and 123 parliamentarians will take part in this election.

Four political parties will compete for 57 of the 61 Senate seats. The four parties include the ruling CPP, the royalist FUNCINPEC party, the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and the lesser-known Khmer Democratic Party (KDP).

The CPP has 31 seats in the current Senate, the FUNCINPEC has 21 and the SRP seven, with the remaining two appointed by former King Norodom Sihanouk.

The National Electoral Committee (NEC) has set up 33 polling stations in towns and provinces across the country. Phnom Penh and the provinces are divided into eight constituencies. The number of seats per constituency depends on the number of people in the province. The largest single constituency, Kompong Cham, gets eight seats.

The results of the election will be announced later on Sunday.

Source: Xinhua