Cambodia's ruling party claims victory in highly contested elections

Cambodia's ruling People's Party (CPP) announced Sunday that it had won an election that rights groups were neither free nor fair due to the intimidation of voters and the absence of any significant opponents to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Without real opposition, Hun Sen was widely expected to win. But the election was widely criticized because of a campaign of intimidation by Hun Sen and his allies against criticism and the dissolution of the main opposition last year.

CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said, "The PPC has won 80% of all the votes and we estimate we will win no less than 100 seats," Sok Eysan told Reuters on Tuesday. A telephone interview

Results from across the country was still being announced by the National Electoral Commission on Sunday and official results are not expected until mid-August.

Hun Sen's opponents called for a boycott of the elections.

19659011] While Hun Sen of Cambodia consolidates power, resistance is in the hands of opposition leaders in exile

The National Electoral Commission (NEC) has declared in a statement that the turnout was 82.71%. Earlier in the day, it was 80.49%

In the previous general election in 2013, the turnout was 69.61%

"It's the success of the I & # 39; election ", Sik Bun Hok, president of the NEC, said in a televised press conference. 8.3 million people were registered to vote Sunday

"This period is higher," he said added. "Cambodia should be proud."

Yoeung Sotheara, an electoral badyst and legal expert who previously worked as a poll supervisor in Cambodia, said Sunday's result was better than the result of the local elections in 2017, where voter turnout was 90%, that is 7.1 million voters.

The electoral reforms of 2016 facilitated the registration of persons at their place of residence and cleaned up the dead and the "ghost" names on the electoral list

. ground in the capital Phnom Penh painted a different image than the one presented by the government. In a polling station near the river, election workers became more numerous than voters and a slow stream of people arrived all day.

Another polling station in a school was quiet, a handful of voters voting in the middle of the afternoon.

Critics say the election is a step back for democracy in Cambodia, tainted by intimidation by the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the dissolution last year of the main Cambodian party of the opposition (CNRP) and the imprisonment of its leader, Kem Sokha, on treason charges

The number of spoiled votes will be monitored from in the midst of the reports of Cambodians called upon to vote or suffer the repercussions of employers and local officials

Notice: The world must pay attention to Cambodia

Some Cambodians have declared to Reuters that they planned to enter the voting booth, have the finger stained ink, but f

The United States, the European Union and Japan all have stated that they would not send election observers. Cambodia said this week that observers from 52 countries will monitor the elections. Many foreign observers mentioned by Reuters – some from populist and far right European parties – expressed their support for the election.

VICTORY "HOLLOW"

The 2018 election is the sixth in It emerged from decades of war, including Khmer Rouge domination of 1975-1979, which is responsible for the death of 1, 7 million people.

Sam Rainsy, former opposition leader exiled and living in France, said in a statement. that the election would give a "hollow" victory to Hun Sen.

"An unchallenged victory is a hollow victory," he said.

"For the first time in 25 years since the elections organized by the United Nations in 1993, Cambodia lacks a legitimate government recognized by the international community," he added.

Hun Sen, a desperate Khmer Rouge commander, has ruled Cambodia for more than 30 years and is the world's oldest prime minister. 19659004] Phil Robertso Human Rights Watch's Asia division deputy director told Reuters in an email that many voters reluctantly went to the polls out of fear. The authorities warned that anyone boycotting the polls would be considered a "traitor".

An elector at a polling station near the Sisowath Preap Wharf in Phnom Penh said not voting was "too difficult". I did not want to vote, but I voted, "said the man, who asked not to be identified.

The CPP relies on a high turnout to give a veneer of legitimacy in the election.

Sik Bun Hok of the NEC said that Sunday's strong turnout dispelled doubts about the legitimacy of the election. "This answers the question of the international community of whether Cambodia loves democracy. "In a message to Facebook after the polls closed, Hun Sen thanked the Cambodians for voting in" overwhelming numbers. "

" You really chose the path of democracy, "said Hun Sen.

Nineteen political parties ran against Hun Sen's ruling CPP, but none is strongly critical of the government.

L & # 39; CNRP opposition, appealing to younger voters and those seeking the last general election in 2013.