Cambodia's ruling party claims victory after disputed election

Cambodia's ruling party claims victory after disputed election
By Alice Cuddy with Reuters
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Polls have closed in Cambodia's disputed national election, which rights groups say was neither free nor fair.

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Cambodia's ruling party on Sunday claimed victory in the general election, amid criticism of voter intimidation and the absence of any significant challenger to Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled the country for 33 years.

Sok Eysan, spokesman of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, said they had won an estimated 100 out of 125 parliamentary seats.

"The CPP won 80% of all the votes", he told Reuters. 

Rights groups have labelled the election a "sham" as the country's leading opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was dissolved last year.

Its leader, Kem Sokha, has been jailed on charges of treason.

"Unfortunately this Cambodian election is not going to be genuine and it's not going to be free or fair. The problem is the opposition party, which won 44% in the local elections in 2017, has been barred. You're talking about an election without an opposition," said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, as voting was underway. 

The CNRP had called for a boycott of the vote.

The European Union suspended funding for the election and has not sent any observers.

However, the CPP insists the vote was legitimate.

The National Election Commission (NEC) said in a news conference that voter turnout was 80.49%, compared to 69.61% in the 2013 vote.

“The total number of people who voted was 6.74 million or about 80.49%. This is the success of the election,” Sik Bun Hok, chairman of the NEC, said in the televised news conference.

“Cambodia should be proud.”

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