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Sopheng Cheang and Jerry Harmer, Associated Press
Published Saturday, July 28, 2018 8:27 PM EDT
Last Updated on Sunday, July 29, 2018 6:42 PM EDT
[PHENOMPENH, Cambodge] – The ruling party in Cambodia won the general election on Sunday, said the government spokesman, widely expected result of an election criticized by human rights groups.
Although 20 parties contested the election, the only party with the popularity and organization necessary to launch a real challenge, the Cambodian National Rescue Party, was dissolved last year by The Supreme Court in a decision generally
The spokesman of the government, Khieu Kanharith, confirmed to the Associated Press that the Cambodian People's Party was leading the polls. It did not specify how many of the 125 seats in the National Assembly had been captured by the CPP, but the preliminary totals broadcast on national television showed that the party won at least 70% of the vote in each of the 25 provinces of the country. Under the proportional representation system of the election, the party would probably get more than 100 seats.
Local and foreign rights groups, as well as several Western governments, agreed that the election would not be credible
. The former leaders of the dissolved CNRP had urged people not to vote in what was called a "Clean Finger" campaign because those who voted had to dip a finger in the indelible ink, a practice to counteract multiple voting.
According to detailed figures released by the National Elections Committee, more than 6.8 million registered voters, or 82.2%, voted.
The figure, if it is correct, suggests that the promotion by the opposition forces of a ballot boycott was ineffective. In the last general election in 2013, the turnout was 6.6 million, or 68.5% of the 9.7 million registered voters.
Hun Sen said on his Facebook page before the announcement of the results that he welcomed the high turnout and congratulated his compatriots
The opposition forces, who had previously ruled that the elections were neither free nor fair due to the exclusion of the only credible opponent, can invoke two reasons to explain the failure of the boycott movement. 19659005] In rural areas where the majority lives, not voting – which means that it was not soaked in indelible ink – made voters subject to reprisals of the share of local officials performing civic functions such as land registration. Voters in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia and the stronghold of the opposition, were less exposed to such threats because of their greater visibility and the security of their numbers. However, according to the electoral committee, even there, the turnout was about 80%.
Doubts are also likely to be raised about actual participation rates because several established watch groups – as well as contingents from the United States and the European Union – declined to participate because that they felt that the polls were not legitimate. One of the largest Cambodian groups participating in election observation was led by one of Hun Sen's sons.
After the election, the exiled opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, had urged Cambodians not to vote. Speaking from south of Paris to Freteval where he lives, Sam Rainsy told The Associated Press that "it's a meaningless victory because (Hun Sen) won without a real challenger … before he dissolved the only credible opposition party.
The Cambodian People's Party of Hun Sen was alarmed by the results of the 2013 elections, when the race was close enough for the opposition to claim that it would have won if it did not happen. had not been
With the break of the political opposition – including the pressure on Sam Rainsy in exile and the imprisonment of his successor, Kem Sokha – the Hun Sen government also silenced the critical voice in the media. During the past year, about 30 radio stations have closed and two English-language newspapers that produced serious reports were gutted, one forced to close and the other put under control of ownership of the Government
. the government ordered the temporary blocking of 17 websites, citing regulations prohibiting the media from broadcasting information that could affect security. The blocked sites included those of Voice of America, funded by the US government, as well as local media.
Hun Sen, whose 33-year-old power makes him one of the world's oldest national leaders, has promised peace and prosperity. The last day of the campaign on Friday, but attacked the boycott appeal of the opposition and called those who listened to "the destroyers of democracy."
Hun Sen, 65, stated that he intended to stay in power for at least two years
He was a member of the radical Khmer Rouge communists during his successful five-year war to overthrow a pro-American government, then defected in Vietnam during the genocidal regime of Khmer Rouge Pol Pot 1975-79 that left nearly 2 million Cambodians dead. He became prime minister in 1985 in a one-party communist government backed by Vietnam and led Cambodia through a civil war against the Khmer Rouge, which calmed down with the Paris Peace Accords of 1991 which have also established a democratic political framework. —-
Associate Press writer Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.
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This story was corrected to show that Rainsy was talking about Freteval, not Paris.
