Cambodians check their names on a voters list at a polling station in Phnom Penh on July 29, 2018. (AFP) Updated 6 sec ago AFP July 29, 2018 14:53 29 Hun Sen has cracked down on dissent in the run-up to this year’s poll He came to power in 1985 in a country still plagued by civil war PHNOM: Cambodia’s ruling party said it had won a landslide in Sunday’s one-horse election, an expected outcome after the main opposition was banned paving the way for leader Hun Sen to prolong his 33 years in power. Hun Sen, who came to power in 1985 in a country still plagued by civil war, has cracked down on dissent in the run-up to this year’s poll, pressuring civil society, independent media and political opponents. That left him with little competition and no serious challengers. Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) spokesman Sok Eysan told AFP late Sunday they expected to win “over 100 seats” in the 125-seat parliament, citing preliminary figures from the National Election Committee. “The CPP will get more than 80 percent of the popular vote,” he said. “This is a huge victory for us.” Hun Sen, 65, a one-time defector from the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, has pointed to stability and growth as the fruits of his rule — a message that resonates with his base. “Compatriots have chosen the democratic path and used your rights,” he said on his Facebook page after polls closed in an apparent swipe at the opposition, which called for a boycott. Voter turnout was 82 percent, according to the election committee, surpassing the final figure in 2013 of roughly 69 percent when the opposition took part. But there were also signs of despondency and indifference, and an expert on elections in Southeast Asia said the high turnout was misleading. “With one-party rule election turnout is generally higher, not lower, because the party, in this case the Cambodian People’s Party, relies on voter intimidation more, relies on vote buying more, and turnout should be inflated that way,” said Lee Morgenbesser from the school of government and international relations at Griffith University. Pictures of spoiled ballots circulated on social media though they could not be independently verified. AFP correspondents saw dozens of blank ballots set aside during counting. “I did not go to vote. I slept at home,” said Khem Chan Vannak, a former commune chief elected with the now-banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). “A lot of my friends did not go to vote.” Western governments withdrew their assistance from the election, citing its lack of credibility. Nineteen small — or hitherto unknown — parties competed against the ruling CPP in the absence of the CNRP. But analysts say they are too obscure or new to make a meaningful difference. The CPP has won every election since 1998. The opposition, whose leaders are in jail, underground or in self-exile, urged a “clean-finger” boycott as the only safe form of protest, a reference to the ink applied to people’s hands after they vote. Official results are expected on August 15. More than eight million voters registered for the sixth general election since polls were organized by the United Nations in 1993.