Cambodia’s ruling party claims election victory — spokesman

Cambodia’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) said on Sunday that it won a general election that rights groups said was neither free nor fair. 

With no real opposition to speak of, Prime Minister Hun Senwas widely expected to win. 

But critics called the election asham because of a campaign of intimidation by Hun Sen and his allies against critics and the dissolution of the main opposition party last year.

CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said his 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 across the country were still being announcedby the National Election Commission on Sunday. 

Official results are not expected until mid-August.

The EU and US have refused to send international observers after independent media outlets were closed down and the opposition outlawed. 

But the government says the election was a fair contest and as voting is mandatory, authorities warned that boycotters of the ballot will be seen as traitors. 

The general election is the country's sixth since 1993 when it emerged from decades of war.

TRT World's Caitlin McGee reports from the country's capital, Phnom Penh.

Media targeted before polls

Last week, Cambodia blocked the websites of some independent media just before the election.

Cambodia Daily, an English-language newspaper, shut down after it was ordered to pay millions of dollars in back taxes by the government or face closure. 

Chhorn Chansy, a young journalist that used to work for the paper believes tax was used as a weapon against the paper. 

Around 30 radio stations were shut last year.

Sunday's election has been criticised by the United Nations and Western countries as fundamentally flawed after the Supreme Court last year dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party over accusations of plotting to topple the government. 

Its leader, Kem Sokha, was imprisoned for treason.

Nineteen political parties are running against Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party but none are strongly critical of the prime minister or the government.

TRT World spoke to Phil Robertson from Human Rights Watch.