Cambodia’s long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen maintained his grip on power as his ruling party won nationwide local elections in a landslide.
The strongman’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) captured 74% of the vote in Sunday’s polls to select councilors to sit on 1,652 local governance bodies known as communes or sangkat, early results released by the National Election Committee show. The main opposition Candlelight Party received 22%, with an assortment of smaller parties getting the remainder.
Almost 7.4 million Cambodians — around 80% of registered voters — cast a ballots. The party with the majority of the vote claims leadership of the commune. The CPP is on track to claim 1,648, with four going to Candlelight. Final results are due out June 26.
