The major ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) has declared that it took the lead in the polling of the fourth general election of Cambodia Sunday, wining at least two thirds of the 123 seats at the National Assembly, senior CPP officials said.
CPP could take 80 to 89 seats, CPP officials said. Its spokesman Khieu Kanharith also confirmed the ratio.
"We are leading in most of the provinces," said the spokesman.
The major opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) could win around 30 seats, CPP sources quoted initial vote count as saying.
However, NGOs and supervising bodies estimated that CPP had over 70 seats and SRP some 50.
Meanwhile, SRP leader Sam Rainsy called for a re-vote in Phnom Penh, saying that 200,000 people there could not vote Sunday after their names were lost from registration lists.
"Neither party won more than two-thirds of the seats," he insisted.
CPP senior member told Xinhua that his party won majority of the votes in Phnom Penh, but he didn't know how many seats were harvested yet.
The national television station TVK, authorized by the National Election Committee (NEC), Sunday night started to broadcast preliminary official results province by province.
At most polling stations in Kaoh Kong province, Pailin municipality and Pursat province, CPP basically shared over 70 percent of the ballots, SRP 15 to 20 percent, and the co-ruling Funcinpec Party and the newly established Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) single digits, according to TVK.
Monday afternoon, NEC will make public overall preliminary official results and final official results will be known about one month later.
CPP victory means that Prime Minister Hun Sen will stay for another five-year term, after being government leader for 23 years.
