THE National Election Committee released preliminary results this morning confirming a ruling party win and with no significant changes in the number of votes won by each party.

The results were released province by province and seats were not calculated. But the difference between the early preliminaries and this final set was minimal, amounting to no more than a hundred votes in most provinces.

In Kandal, the province where the opposition party stood the best chance of gaining an additional seat (fewer than 900 votes would have swung it), the party saw a bump of less than 500.

The biggest change was in Takeo, where the Cambodia National Rescue Party received 890 additional votes and the Cambodian People’s Party gained 1,694 votes. In Kratie, the CPP saw a bump of 1,532 votes, and the CNRP 297.

The CNRP has blasted the CPP’s claim to have won 68 seats to its 55 and said their results – which have yet to be released - show a 63 seat majority. The party maintains that it saw gains in Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kandal, Kratie, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

A separate election irregularities investigation committee, jointly run by the CNRP and CPP and employing NGOs remains pending.