Cambodia’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) claimed on Sunday that it had won a general election that rights groups said was neither free nor fair due to voter intimidation and the absence of any significant challenger to Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to Reuter.
With no real opposition to speak of, Hun Sen was widely expected to win. But the election was widely criticized as a sham because of a campaign of intimidation by Hun Sen and his allies against critics and the dissolution of the main opposition last year.
CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said the party won an estimated 100 out of 125 parliamentary seats.
“The CPP won 80 percent of all the votes and we estimate we will win not less than 100 seats,” Sok Eysan told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Results from around the country were still being announced by the National Election Commission on Sunday and official results aren’t expected until mid-August.
Hun Sen’s opponents had called for an election boycott.
The National Election Commission (NEC) said in a statement that voter turnout was 82.71 percent. Earlier in the day it put the figure at 80.49 percent.
In the previous general election in 2013 turnout was 69.61 percent.
“This is the success of the election,” Sik Bun Hok, chairman of the NEC, said in a televised news conference. 8.3 million people were registered to vote on Sunday.
