| Grassroots Democratic Party | |
| Native Name: | គណបក្សប្រជាធិបតេយ្យមូលដ្ឋាន |
| President: | Yeng Virak[1] |
| Leader1 Title: | Vice President |
| Leader1 Name: | Sam Sundeoum |
| Founders: | Kem Ley[2] Yang Saing Koma[3] Sam Inn[4] |
| Leader2 Title: | Media Support Team |
| Leader2 Name: | Khmer CMS[5] |
| Ideology: | Grassroots democracy[6] Social democracy Social liberalism[7] |
| Position: | Centre-left |
| National: | Alliance Towards the Future |
| Membership Year: | 2018 |
| Membership: | 10,000[8] |
| Headquarters: | 38 St. 1972, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
| Colors: | Green |
| Seats1 Title: | Senate |
| Seats2 Title: | National Assembly |
| Seats3 Title: | Commune Council |
| Seats4 Title: | Local government |
| Country: | Cambodia |
The Grassroots Democratic Party (GDP; Central Khmer: គណបក្សប្រជាធិបតេយ្យមូលដ្ឋាន, abbr. Central Khmer: គ.ប.ម.) is an independent political party based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It is let by Sek Sokha, Mean Eang as chair of Board of Governance, Thuok Bona as chair of dispute resolution and desapline, and Lim Bungkea as secretary-general. The party is one of the candidates in the 2018 Cambodian parliamentary election of the National Assembly.
The Grassroots Democratic Party was founded on 2 August 2015 by former non-government organization (NGO) leaders, intellectuals and community leaders from more than 10 communes of Cambodia. The key founding members of GDP are Dr. Kem Ley (assassinated on 10 July 2016),[9] Dr. Yang Saing Koma, Mr. Yeng Virak and Dr. Sam Inn and more.
Chairman - Mean Eang
President - Sek Sokha
Vice President - Sam Sundoeun
Secretary General - Lim Bungkea
Deputy Secretary General - Pen Vanna
The original ideas behind the founding of the GDP were as follows:
The official logo of the party is triangular representing “bottom-up democracy.” The logo has four colors: green, blue, red and white. The official color of the party is green, representing grassroots democracy and sustainable development.
The core values of GDP are:
The vision of the party is “All Cambodian citizens living in dignity and the country has full national sovereignty.”
The mission of the party is “To nurture good leaders and building democratic foundation for the whole nation.”
The party has adopted the following internal principles:
The national structure of the GDP:
The current national leaders of the GDP are:
The party garnered 70,291 or 1.11% of the popularity votes cast on July 29, 2018 parliamentary election but short of winning a single seat in the National Assembly.
The GDP participated in the local (Commune -Sangkat) elections held on 3 June 2017 by competing in 27 communes, winning five seats in three communes. The average results in 27 communes indicated that GDP ranked third after the two main rivals (CPP and CNRP), but in Pate commune GDP ranked second, receiving the same number of seats as CPP (CPP - 2, GDP - 2, CNRP - 1). Following the dissolution of CNRP, the GDP did not accept any re-allocation of CNRP seats.
The GDP participated in the national election held on 29 July 2018 and competed in all 25 constituencies. The party presented itself as the new alternative and the new hope for all Cambodians.
The GDP's political platform consisting of 125 key policies which are presented in the “Green Book.” The 125 policies are classified in national reconciliation and unity policies, national building policies, national protection and security policies and international cooperation policies. As part of the national reconciliation and unity, the GDP aims to create a solidarity government by inviting all political parties with National Assembly (NA) seats to form super nation building councils by inviting all former top national political leaders to be members.
For the election campaign among the general population, the GDP has summarized the key nation building policies in a one-page format which is known as Sor 5 policies, the Khmer acronym for five sectors, including: economy and jobs, health, education and youth, social welfare and public services and democratic governance. Among the 125 policies, 15 policies have been selected for the general campaign:
Economy and jobs
Health care
Education and youth
Social protection and welfare
Public services and democratic governance
It is important to note that the party will meet again in June 2018 to decide the next step in the process of participation in the election, including the election of the top candidate or prime minister (PM) candidate.
The GDP recognizes that one of the factors for free and fair elections is to ensure that there is a sufficient number of election observers at all polling stations, including both independent observers (national and international observers), as well as observers recruited directly by the GDP.
The party garnered 70,291 or 1.11% of the popular votes on July 29, 2018 parliamentary election but short of winning a seat in the National Assembly of Cambodia.
| Year | Party leader | Votes | Seats | Position | Government | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | ± | ± | ||||||
| 2018 | Yeng Virak | 70,567 | 1.11 | New | New | 6th | ||
| 2023 | 35,413 | 0.46 | 0.65 | 8th | ||||
| Year | Party leader | Votes | Position | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | ± | ± | ± | ||||||
| Yeng Virak | 4,981 | 0.07 | 0.07 | New | 5 | 7th | |||
| 6,757 | 0.09 | 0.02 | 1 | 9th | |||||