|
PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party
won nearly 60 percent of the vote in early returns from weekend
polls, according to a partial count Monday by Cambodian election
authorities.
Initial returns from 11 of the
nation’s 24 provinces showed that the ruling Cambodian People’s
Party (CPP) had won 59.8 percent of the 1.6 million votes counted so
far.
The main opposition Sam Rainsy
Party took 22.9 percent of the ballots counted by Monday morning,
the National Election Committee said. The rest of the votes were
divided among a slate of smaller parties.
Election authorities did not
release results by constituency, and gave no estimate of how many
seats each party had won in parliament. Voter turnout had not yet
been calculated.
CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith
claimed victory late Sunday, saying the party had captured at least
91 of the 123 seats in parliament, giving them more than a
two-thirds majority.
If the official results confirm
the party’s own tally, the opposition would have little room to
maneuver against Hun Sen, who at 55 has already ruled Cambodia for
23 years.
He has vowed to remain in power
until he is 90 years old, and has relentlessly undercut his
political rivals.
Hun Sen’s coalition partner in
the last government, the royalist Funcinpec, has imploded and
splintered under the weight of internal scandals that prompted the
party’s erstwhile leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh to flee into
exile in Kuala Lumpur.
Hun Sen had been widely tipped to
win due to a booming economy that has helped improve the quality of
life in one of the world’s poorest nations, and due to nationalist
sentiment sparked by the border feud with Thailand.
He was so confident of victory
that his government on Monday was set to hold a new round of border
talks with Thailand, even before his re-election has been confirmed.
--AFP
|
