PHNOM PENH: Preliminary results released by the National Election Committee show the Cambodian People's Party and royalist FUNCINPEC party receiving the most support among the 18 parties that participated in the July 23 election.

According to the preliminary results announced by the NEC on the morning of August 1, the reigning CPP dwarfed FUNCINPEC by a wide margin, with the CPP receiving 6,398,311 votes and FUNCINPEC receiving 716,490.

According to unofficial calculations, the CPP won 120 seats in the National Assembly, while FUNCINPEC won five. For the past five years the CPP has held all 125 seats in addition to all seats in the Senate, of which the current Prime Minister Hun Sen plans to be the president of when he hands over the reins to his son on August 22.

According to preliminary results, 8,214,430 people went to the polls. A total of around 440,000 invalid ballots were counted, mostly in protest of the opposition Candlelight Party not being permitted to participate in the election. Authorities are arresting those who have posted pictures of their invalidated ballots under a new law which criminalizes discouraging others from voting. So far dozens of people have received fines had their voting rights stripped away.

Election Day was hailed by national and invited international observers as smooth, non-violent, fair, peaceful and transparent. Notably absent from this year’s observers were the US, the European Union, and Australia who condemned the election as “neither free nor fair” due to alleged harassment and intimidation of the opposition.

Following today's announcement, if there are no complaints and no calls for re-election, the NEC will announce the official results on August 4, 2023.