PHNOM PENH -- As Cambodia's 16 million people awaited official results from Sunday's local elections, early indications suggested that Cambodian National Rescue Party, the main opposition group, had made significant gains at the ruling Cambodian People's Party's expense.
As the National Election Committee read out results on local TV, the CNRP estimated that it had won 46% of the popular vote to the CPP's 51%. Fresh News, a local outlet sympathetic toward the CPP, said that preliminary results showed the CPP winning in 1,163 communes across the country, down from 1,592 five years earlier, with the CNRP winning 482.
