Cambodian ruling party wins general election

PHNOM PENH - The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen won Sunday's general election, according to National Election Committee (NEC)'s preliminary results released on Monday.

Broadcast live on the state-owned National Television of Cambodia (TVK), the results indicated that the CPP earned 4.86 million, or 77.5 percent, of the total valid votes.

According to the calculation table by the CPP based on the NEC's preliminary results, the CPP won all the 125 seats in the National Assembly.

"We can say that this is a bright and historic success for the CPP," CPP spokesman Sok Eysan told Xinhua. "This clearly reflects the confidence of the Cambodian people in the leadership of the CPP, and they believe that only the CPP can lead Cambodia to a prosperous country."

In the last election in 2013, the ruling CPP won 68 out of 123 seats.

With the victory, Hun Sen, who has been in power for 33 years, will continue to lead the government for another five years.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, the prime minister expressed his gratitude to the compatriots for overwhelmingly turning out to vote.

"The siblings have really chosen the path of democracy and exercised your rights as stated in the constitution, which is the country's highest law," he said. "I thank all the people for voting to elect the lawmakers and ticking political parties that you like on the ballot-papers."

Seng Sokheng, president of the Cambodian Nationality Party, which also joined the race, said on Monday that Sunday's election went smoothly without any disturbance, violence and intimidation.

He said in a statement that the election was "free, fair, just, transparent, acceptable and better than that of previous elections."

Twenty political parties contested in Sunday's election.

According to the NEC, some 6.88 million, or 82.17 percent, of the 8.38 million eligible voters cast their ballots at all 22,967 polling stations across the country.

NEC chairman Sik Bun Hok said Sunday that the voter turnout was much higher than that in the 2013 election when the voter turnout was recorded at 69.61 percent of the eligible voters.

"This is the success of our election," he said in a press conference. "This reflects that the Cambodian people know democracy, and express it through their ballot-papers once every five years."

Sunday's election ran smoothly without any violence or intimidation, Bun Hok said, adding that the provisional results will be released on Aug. 11, and the official ones will be publicized on Aug 15.

The election was monitored by more than 500 foreign observers from 52 countries and nearly 80,000 locals, according to the NEC. In a press conference on Sunday evening, representatives of the foreign observers highly praised the election, saying that it was conducted smoothly in a free and fair manner and without any incident or violence.

According to Article 82 of the kingdom's constitution, the first session of the new National Assembly will be convened no later than 60 days after the election.

The Southeast Asian country holds a general election once every five years. Sunday's general election was the sixth of its kind since 1993.