The Canberra Times
BY SUY SE IN PHNOM PENH
29/07/2008
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's party has claimed a sweeping victory in national polls, positioning him to extend his 23-year rule after a vote overshadowed by a military stand-off with Thailand.
''We won the election,'' party spokesman Khieu Kanharith said yesterday, citing tallies by the party's own supporters. ''We have more than a two-thirds majority now.''
He said the Cambodian People's Party had won at least 91 of the 123 seats in Parliament, although ballots were still being counted.
Election officers said the official initial vote count showed the party had garnered at least 62 per cent of the vote in five of the nation's 24 provinces,
Final official results are not expected until next month.
Mr Hun Sen had been widely tipped to win, thanks to a booming economy that has improved the quality of life in one of the world's poorest nations, and to nationalist sentiment sparked by the border feud with Thailand.
Winning two-thirds of the seats in Parliament would mean the leader's party had siphoned votes away from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party and royalist Funcinpec, and hugely increased its existing majority. It held 73 seats in the last Parliament.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy called for renewed balloting in Phnom Penh, where his party is strong, alleging that 200,000 people in the capital could not vote yesterday after their names had gone missing from registration lists.
''Neither party won more than two-thirds of the seats,'' he said, estimating on the basis of a tally by his supporters that no party had won more than 70 seats. But election monitors dismissed his accusation of vote-rigging and said voting had proceeded smoothly overall.
Voters in the capital started lining up at dawn to cast ballots, with many saying their overriding concern was the territorial dispute with Thailand, centred on the ancient Preah Vihear temple.
Businessman Lam Chanvanda, 56, said as he stood in a long queue of voters, ''I will vote for those who can solve the issue of Preah Vihear temple immediately after they take power.
''Before I was never interested in the border, but now it is in my heart.''
Thousands of soldiers from both sides are facing off near the 11th-century Khmer temple.
Foreign ministers from the two nations were set to meet yesterday in hopes of resolving the issue.
Analysts had long predicted Mr Hun Sen's victory because of Cambodia's strong economy, which has enabled the building of new roads, bridges and other improvements to infrastructure.
A former UN envoy to Cambodia, Benny Widyono, said, ''This [victory] is the result of economic development, which has been spectacular, as well as strong campaigning.''
About 17,000 domestic and international observers monitored the voting at more than 15,000 polling stations.
More than eight million people were registered to vote.
US-based Human Rights Watch has complained that the ruling party's near monopoly on broadcast media has undermined the opposition's efforts to woo voters, especially in rural parts of the country.
One radio station was shut down late on Sunday after it broadcast a book reading by Mr Sam Rainsy, which, according to Mr Kanharith, violated rules against campaigning on the eve of the vote.
Mr Hun Sen has a reputation for trampling on human rights to secure power.
Since becoming prime minister in 1985, the former Khmer Rouge guerrilla has ruthlessly cemented his grip on power. AFP
BY SUY SE IN PHNOM PENH
29/07/2008
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's party has claimed a sweeping victory in national polls, positioning him to extend his 23-year rule after a vote overshadowed by a military stand-off with Thailand.
''We won the election,'' party spokesman Khieu Kanharith said yesterday, citing tallies by the party's own supporters. ''We have more than a two-thirds majority now.''
He said the Cambodian People's Party had won at least 91 of the 123 seats in Parliament, although ballots were still being counted.
Election officers said the official initial vote count showed the party had garnered at least 62 per cent of the vote in five of the nation's 24 provinces,
Final official results are not expected until next month.
Mr Hun Sen had been widely tipped to win, thanks to a booming economy that has improved the quality of life in one of the world's poorest nations, and to nationalist sentiment sparked by the border feud with Thailand.
Winning two-thirds of the seats in Parliament would mean the leader's party had siphoned votes away from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party and royalist Funcinpec, and hugely increased its existing majority. It held 73 seats in the last Parliament.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy called for renewed balloting in Phnom Penh, where his party is strong, alleging that 200,000 people in the capital could not vote yesterday after their names had gone missing from registration lists.
''Neither party won more than two-thirds of the seats,'' he said, estimating on the basis of a tally by his supporters that no party had won more than 70 seats. But election monitors dismissed his accusation of vote-rigging and said voting had proceeded smoothly overall.
Voters in the capital started lining up at dawn to cast ballots, with many saying their overriding concern was the territorial dispute with Thailand, centred on the ancient Preah Vihear temple.
Businessman Lam Chanvanda, 56, said as he stood in a long queue of voters, ''I will vote for those who can solve the issue of Preah Vihear temple immediately after they take power.
''Before I was never interested in the border, but now it is in my heart.''
Thousands of soldiers from both sides are facing off near the 11th-century Khmer temple.
Foreign ministers from the two nations were set to meet yesterday in hopes of resolving the issue.
Analysts had long predicted Mr Hun Sen's victory because of Cambodia's strong economy, which has enabled the building of new roads, bridges and other improvements to infrastructure.
A former UN envoy to Cambodia, Benny Widyono, said, ''This [victory] is the result of economic development, which has been spectacular, as well as strong campaigning.''
About 17,000 domestic and international observers monitored the voting at more than 15,000 polling stations.
More than eight million people were registered to vote.
US-based Human Rights Watch has complained that the ruling party's near monopoly on broadcast media has undermined the opposition's efforts to woo voters, especially in rural parts of the country.
One radio station was shut down late on Sunday after it broadcast a book reading by Mr Sam Rainsy, which, according to Mr Kanharith, violated rules against campaigning on the eve of the vote.
Mr Hun Sen has a reputation for trampling on human rights to secure power.
Since becoming prime minister in 1985, the former Khmer Rouge guerrilla has ruthlessly cemented his grip on power. AFP
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