# First general election and Constituent Assembly (1 September 1946)

URL: https://allhistories.com/cambodia/timeline/1946-first-general-election-and-constituent-assembly
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Themes: main-event

Cambodia's first general elections were held on 1 September 1946. The Democratic Party won 50 of the 67 seats, about 73 percent of the vote, and turnout is estimated at 60 percent. The Wikipedia election article calls the body a Constituent Assembly, while the protectorate article calls it a Consultative Assembly. The vote followed the January 1946 agreement with France, which allowed parties and elections. The Liberal Party, representing rural elites and favouring a continued colonial relationship with France, was the other main party. The election took place only eleven months after the French returned and while the Issarak insurgents were still active in the countryside. The Democrats then drafted a constitution modelled on that of the French Fourth Republic, which the king proclaimed on 6 May 1947. The assembly gave Cambodia its first experience of parliamentary politics, with an elected legislature, though the French and the court still held decisive powers. At this point in the timeline (1946), King Norodom Sihanouk (1941 – 1955) ruled the Kingdom of Cambodia as an Associated State within the French Union; Commissioner Romain Victor Joseph Pénavaire (1946 – 1947) represented France in Phnom Penh; Prime Minister Sisowath Monireth (1945 – 1946) led the government.

## Why it matters
It was the country's first democratic election and gave the Democratic Party the mandate to write a constitution.

Ruler at the Time: [King Norodom Sihanouk](https://allhistories.com/cambodia/rulers/norodom-sihanouk)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 1946 Cambodian Constituent Assembly election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1946_Cambodian_Constituent_Assembly_election)
- [Library of Congress Country Studies — 14](https://countrystudies.us/cambodia/14.htm)
- [Wikipedia — French protectorate of Cambodia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_protectorate_of_Cambodia)
- [Wikipedia — Sisowath Youtevong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisowath_Youtevong)