Cambodia's ruling party led by Prime Minister Hun Sen has won 96 per cent of the parliamentary seats, reported Nikkei, which cited an unofficial result.

The voting has been dubbed a "one-horse race" after the biggest political rival to Cambodian People's Party (CPP), Candlelight Party, was disqualified for submitting a photocopied document instead of an original copy.

The Candlelight Party almost beat the CPP in the 2013 national election after it secured 55 seats in the parliament. Most of its senior members have since been imprisoned or sent into exile.

Landslide victory

The polls were closed with an 84 per cent turnout and 8.1 million people voting, CNN reported. It was a contest between the CPP, and 17 other parties who did not win any seats in the last election in 2018.

"We've won in a landslide," CPP spokesperson Sok Eysan said, as quoted by CNN. "But we can't calculate the number of seats yet."

State-controlled media outlet Fresh News announced at 11pm that the CPP had won 120 of the 125 seats in the lower house of parliament based on preliminary results from provincial governments.

The other five seats went to the royalist party Funcinpec. They co-governed the country with CPP in the 1990s before being ousted by Hun Sen in 1997.

Silently protesting

Voters have turned their attention to the ballots to silently protest against the voting process.

Exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy shared multiple pictures of ballots which have been crossed on his Facebook account, thanking the voters "for daring to draw the vote for the unity of the nation".

The antics have riled authorities, who previously amended the election laws to penalise anyone who boycotts the voting, barring non-voters from contesting in any future elections.

According to Nikkei, the Cambodian authorities have released the names and photos of 40 "rebels" who were part of a Telegram group that discussed plans to upset the ballot. At least one of the group has been arrested.

In his Telegram group, Hun Sen said that the authorities know the faces of the people who had joined the group and told them "not to be scared" and turn themselves in or face "legal" consequences. He also encouraged them not to flee adding that they "can't hide".

At least two people have been detained on Sunday. One refused to stain his finger with ink indicating that they have voted, and another left the polling station with his ballot slip.

Son to succeed as prime minister

Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 38 years, has brushed off any concerns about the election's credibility, CNN reported.

He has indicated that his eldest son Hun Manet will succeed him as prime minister in "three or four weeks", Reuters reported.

ជយោ!​ គណបក្ស​ប្រជាជន​កម្ពុជាដ៏រុងរឿង

ជយោ! សន្តិភាព និងការអភិវឌ្ឍ!

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ខេត្តកែប​ដង្ហែ​ក្បួនបិទយុទ្ធនាការឃោសនាបោះឆ្នោត​ជ្រើសតាំងតំណាងរាស្រ្ត​ នីតិកាលទី៧… pic.twitter.com/uD3VgPKRoL

— Hun Manet - C.O.Army (@hunmanet_coarmy) July 21, 2023

The 70-year-old prime minister added that it ultimately depends on whether Hun Manet "will be able to do it or not".

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Top image by Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP via Getty Images.