Friday, 8 August 2008

Cambodian election results to be announced

M&G Asia-Pacific News
Aug 8, 2008

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's National Election Committee said Friday it would announce temporary results from the July 27 national polls within 24 hours.

The committee said the results would be announced at 8 am (0100 GMT) Saturday on state media and a number of other outlets.

It said the 11 participating parties then had 72 hours to appeal.

The ruling Cambodian People's Party had won 90 of 123 seats in early counts and appeared to be unassailable.

But interest still remains in whether the royalist Funcinpec party, once a driving political force, can salvage more than the two seats it held in early polling - down from 26 in the 2003 election.

Cambodia has so far largely avoided the violence associated with previous elections, although security was expected to remain tight.

International observers, including from monitors the US and EU, concluded after polling that improvements to the electoral process still needed to be made, but overall declared them free, if not entirely fair due to the ruling party's dominance of the media.

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