The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen swept 1,592 of the country' s 1,633 commune chief seats in the 3rd commune council elections on June 3, according to official results released by the National Election Committee (NEC) on Sunday.

Sam Rainsy Party, the country's main opposition party, won only 22 commune chief seats, a decrease of 6 seats over its results in 2007, whilst the Human Rights Party, which joined for the first time in the race, won surprisingly 18 commune chief seats, the results showed.

Royalist Funcinpec Party, which is the coalition party in the current CPP's government, won a commune chief seat, while royalist Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) did not gain even a seat of commune chief position. The NRP led by Prince Norodom Ranariddh, son of former king Norodom Sihanouk.

The June 3's elections were joined by ten political parties and were observed by about 15,000 national and international observers from various countries and non-governmental organizations, according to the NEC.

Some 5.87 million Cambodians of about 9.2 million eligible voters cast their ballots nationwide at that time.

The elections are held once every 5 years.

In the 2nd commune council elections in 2007, the CPP won 1,592 commune chief seats, following by the Sam Rainsy Party with 28 commune chief positions and the Funcinpec Party with 2 communes.