The high turnout figures came amid a boycott campaign led by a former opposition party president and reports of a campaign of voter intimidation during the campaign and on election day. Some 7 percent of Siem Reap residents spoiled their ballots, according to the NEC figures.
“It is villagers’ rights to go to vote or not vote,” said one woman describing pressure from ruling party officials to vote.
“I told Mr. Prak Sokhonn that the results were disappointing in many ways as many of the ballots were judged invalid, although Japan had given its support to ensure that the polls would reflect the will of the voters,” Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said, according to the NHK report.
Both nationally and internationally, the CPP will have a difficult time explaining its uncontested win in the election, according to experts.
The second annual Overseas Khmer Summit will focus on “unity, peace, continuity, and prosperity”.
Say Samal made the comments in an op-ed published in a widely read local daily newspaper, Rasmei Kampuchea, owned by his father, Senate President Say Chhum.
Japan sent election monitors to Cambodian elections in 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008, but did not do so in last month's national elections.
The CPP jailed Sokha in September on treason charges and banned the CNRP over allegations of a conspiracy to overthrow Hun Sen by force.
The tycoons named by Global Witness were logging baron Try Pheap, Cambodian People’s Party senators Ly Yong Phat, a sugar magnate, Mong Reththy, and Lao Meng Khin, one of Hun Sen’s closest private sector allies.
Nearly 7 million voters, or 82.89 percent of the electorate, turned out to vote, according to the NEC.
Cambodians headed to the polls today for an election in which the only viable alternative party has been banned. That’s helped the country’s prime minister of more than three decades to extend his reign even longer. But that’s not enough for Hun Sen, who wants legitimacy as well as assured victory.
Despite a CNRP campaign to boycott the election, amid threats and voter intimidation, turnout was reported at 82 percent, according to the National Election Committee.
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