Cambodia's ruling party wins Senate majority

PHNOM PENH, Jan 30 (Bernama) –- The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) gained a majority of the votes in the country's Senate elections, receiving up to 77.81 percent, according to preliminary results provided by the National Election Committee (NEC) of Cambodia on Sunday.

The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), which is the country's main opposition party, gained 21.93 percent of votes, reported Vietnam news agency on Monday.

According to NEC, the official election result will be announced on Feb 4, but may be postponed to March 5 if there is any complaint from political parties.

The Senate elections are taking place under observation of 131 representatives of political parties and 1,432 domestic and foreign observers.

Only two main political parties participated in this year's elections. They are the ruling CPP and SRP.

The elections will select only 57 seats out of 61 seats as two senators will be appointed by the King and two by the National Assembly.

The Senate election is held every six years. In the last election in 2006, CPP won 45 seats, followed by the royalist FUNCINPEC party with 10 seats, and the remainder went to SRP.