By Prak Chan Thul
28 July 2013
28 July 2013
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodians voted on Sunday in an election likely to hand another five years in power to Asia's longest-serving prime minister, Hun Sen, but an energized opposition complained of irregularities and said it would fight for true democracy.
The opposition believes nearly a million names are missing from voter lists and has lodged complaints about the disruption of meetings, alleged vote-buying and campaigning by the security forces for Hun Sen, who was first appointed premier in 1985.
"The partisanship of the military and police has created an intimidating atmosphere for voters in many parts of the country," U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is confident of victory but political analysts believe a recently united opposition party may dent its majority.
More than 9.6 million people are eligible to vote. Polling stations closed at 3 p.m. (4 a.m. EDT) and some provisional results may be issued on Sunday evening. Full, official results could take weeks.
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) has been buoyed by the return home of a popular leader, former finance minister Sam Rainsy, after a royal pardon.
He had faced a jail sentence handed down in 2010 for spreading disinformation and falsifying maps to contest a new border agreed with Vietnam, charges he called politically motivated.
He returned too late to register to run in the election, or even to vote, and the electoral authorities rejected his late request to do so. But he has attracted large crowds to rallies and may appeal to younger voters with no memory of the turmoil before the authoritarian Hun Sen helped restore stability.
At one polling station set up in at a pagoda in the capital, Phnom Penh, 29-year-old Khat Sreynit said she wanted a better country and jobs for university graduates. "And also that people have a living wage," she said, before rushing into the crowd to get a glimpse of Sam Rainsy, who had turned up there.
A 70-year-old voter clutching an ID card declined to give her name but said: "This election is important for the country. I have always voted before, since 1993, I voted for living conditions and the country." She paid little attention to Sam Rainsy's arrival.
The United Nations organized an election in 1993 that put Cambodia on a rocky path towards stability after decades of turmoil, including the 1975-79 "Killing Fields" rule of the communist Khmer Rouge.
IRREGULARITIES
Voting, like the campaign itself, was generally peaceful although scuffles were reported in various places, mostly involving people complaining about electoral irregularities.
"In spite of this uphill battle, any gain we make will be very significant. The election is not the end of our fight, it will be the beginning of the fight for real democracy," Sam Rainsy said on Saturday after meeting election monitors.
Under Hun Sen, a former junior commander in the Khmer Rouge who broke during their rule, Cambodia has been transformed into one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economies, helped by garment exports plus aid money and investment from China.
But the breakneck economic growth has been accompanied by a rise in social tension over poor factory conditions and rural land rights in a country of 14 million, where a third of the people live on less than 65 U.S. cents a day.
Hun Sen's CPP is confident of victory, helped by a compliant media and an election system prone to government meddling.
"The CPP has 5.7 million members; the other party has only just over a million," said CPP lawmaker Cheam Teap.
The CPP had 90 of the 123 seats in the outgoing parliament while the CNRP had 29.
CPP's Cheam Yeap said the ruling party would win between 88 and 92 seats, but some analysts believe the opposition has its best chance in years of denting the CPP majority.
"The opposition will gain more seats, judging by all the support we've seen," said independent analyst Chea Vannath.
"But regardless of how many more seats the parties get, they should be united for the country rather than confronting each other," she added, advocating a government of national unity.
(Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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