PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodian Premier Hun Sen's ruling party claimed an early lead in polls Sunday, leaving him poised to extend his 23-year grip on power after a vote overshadowed by a military standoff with Thailand.Khieu Kanharith, spokesman for the party and the government, said the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) was set to win 80 of the 123 seats in parliament.
"The early results from all polling stations show that the CPP is leading," he said, claiming the party would take seats in areas once strongholds for the opposition.
Official results could take days to be announced, but the spokesman said the party would likely claim victory later Sunday.
Voters in the capital Phnom Penh 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.
"I will vote for those who can solve the issue of Preah Vihear temple immediately after they take power," said 56-year-old businessman Lam Chanvanda, as he stood in a long queue of voters.
"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 are set to meet Monday in hopes of resolving the deal.
Hun Sen , a former Khmer Rouge guerrilla who has ruled with an iron fist since 1985, strengthened his profile going into the election by taking a tough stance on the dispute, said analysts.
A confident Hun Sen -- who has accused Thailand of defying international law and threatening regional peace -- kissed his ballot as he cast it at a school in a posh southern suburb of Phnom Penh.
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.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy alleged 200,000 people in Phnom Penh could not vote after their names were lost from registration lists Sunday, but election officials dismissed his claim as exaggerated and said the balloting had proceeded smoothly overall.
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 Saturday after it broadcast a reading from a book by Sam Rainsy, violating rules against campaigning on the day before the vote, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.
Hun Sen has a reputation for trampling on human rights to secure power, but a booming economy has bolstered his standing in a country struggling to lift itself from the ranks of the world's poorest nations.
He became prime minister in 1985, and has steadily and ruthlessly cemented his grip on power, resorting to a coup in 1997.
In the current campaign, Hun Sen has been aided by his opponents' mistakes. His current coalition partner, the royalist Funcinpec party, has imploded under internal corruption scandals.
The Sam Rainsy Party is expected to maintain its strength in the capital but has made few inroads into rural Cambodia, where most voters live.
Although the campaign has been less violent than past elections, Human Rights Watch warned that a history of violence remains a source of intimidation against the opposition.
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