Cambodia election crisis deepens as opposition rejects results

(Reuters) – A deadlock over Cambodia’s disputed election hardened on Monday as the opposition rejected official results confirming a victory for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s long-ruling party and raised the prospect of further street protests. The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) said it would not accept the latest results because the government had failed to address its allegations of widespread cheating, and called on the international community not to recognize the outcome. The crisis over the July 28 election is Hun Sen’s biggest political challenge in two decades and threatens to destabilise the small, fast-growing Southeast Asian nation that has built strong economic and political ties with China in recent years. The National Election Committee (NEC) – a state body seen as dominated by Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) – announced official results earlier on Monday showing the CPP had won a majority of votes in 19 of Cambodia’s 24 provinces. That was broadly in line with preliminary results that the CPP said gave it 68 seats in parliament to the 55 seats won by the CNRP, a hefty loss of 22 seats for the ruling party. The NEC did not say when it would release final results for seats in parliament. The CNRP has claimed victory, saying it won 63 seats in the 123-seat parliament. …

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/12/uk-cambodia-election-count-idUKBRE97B02G20130812