Sunday, 27 July 2008

Voting underway in Cambodia's national election

A Cambodian Buddhist monk drops a ballot into a ballot box at a polling station in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, July 27, 2008. Longtime Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is widely expected to extend his 23-year tenure with a victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections, buoyed by a surge of nationalism amid a tense border dispute with neighboring Thailand. Khmer on the box reads: 'Ballot box.' (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Radio Australia

Polling booths are open in Cambodia for legislative elections and the 15,000 booths will stay open for eight hours.

More than eight million people are registered to vote. Official results could take days to be announced, but the parties are expected to release their own tallies this evening.

South-east Asia correspondent Karen Percy reports the long-serving prime minister, Hun Sen, is expected to extend his majority.

She says Hun Sen has been running the country for 23 years. His Cambodian People's Party currently holds 73 of the 123 national seats.

That's expected to rise to at least 80. There are 13-thousand local and international election monitors in the country.

The vote is expected to go smoothly, but human rights groups say during the month-long election campaign, many voters are likely to have been bought off or intimidated into voting for the ruling party.

The main opposition party, headed by Sam Rainsy, is expected to make some ground as well now that the royalist party, Funcinpec, has been largely sidelined as a result of internal squabbles.

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