by Ros Sothea
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Voters in Cambodia cast their ballots Sunday in local elections which will likely see the country's ruling party further tighten its grip on power ahead of next year's national polls.
Some 12 political parties fielded a total of 102,266 candidates for commune councils -- small administrative bodies that govern rural villages or city neighbourhoods.
But Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is expected to take most of the country's more than 11,000 council seats that are being contested in a show of its dominance ahead of 2008 general elections.
"We consider these elections to be a trial run for the political parties going into the 2008 polls," said Tep Nitha, secretary general of the National Election Committee (NEC).
Casting his vote in his hometown of Takmao, Hun Sen, who is the CPP's deputy president, refused to comment on the possible outcome of the polls, saying he would respect rules forbidding party officers from talking about the elections.
Other voters, though, told AFP they thought the elections -- only the second local poll to be held in Cambodia after decades of conflict -- would help give democracy a better foothold in the country.
Voting officially closed at 3:00 pm (0800 GMT), although some polling stations remained open to handle an overflow of people.
The commune vote is expected to reveal a new political landscape in which the royalist Funcinpec party, which for years has been the CPP's coalition government partner, sees itself pushed to the fringes following months of infighting and the sacking of its president, Prince Norodom Ranariddh.
The opposition Sam Rainsy Party, historically Cambodia's political underdog, and Ranariddh's new self-named party now look likely to fill the political void left as a result of Funcinpec's decline, observers say.
"Security is good, but democracy is still limited," said civil servant Roith Sam, who was casting his ballot at a bustling polling station in the capital Phnom Penh.
"It's important for my nation to choose the right leaders -- I'm sure that the country will improve," he added.
Sunday's elections followed those held in 2002 amid accusations of vote tampering, intimidation and political violence.
More than 100 people died in the run-up to the 2002 election in what opposition parties and rights groups said were politically-motivated murders.
Although this year's campaign has seen little of the violence that marred the previous poll, there have been complaints of intimidation and a few reported political killings.
"The situation is a little better than previous elections, but violence still happened," said Koul Panha of the election watchdog Comfrel. His group reported more than 150 incidents of intimidation during the campaign period.
Amid fears of unrest, the NEC on Friday banned the use of SMS text messaging at the weekend, saying it could be used by political parties to try to unfairly influence voters after the official end of campaigning.
But Koul Panha said the move threatened to cripple election monitors relying on the technology to communicate with each other in the field.
Nearly 14,000 foreign and Cambodian election monitors were to be posted around the country on Sunday, election officials said.
Prior to the 2002 elections, commune officials were appointed by the government and had remained largely unchanged since the early 1980s.
Some 12 political parties fielded a total of 102,266 candidates for commune councils -- small administrative bodies that govern rural villages or city neighbourhoods.
But Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is expected to take most of the country's more than 11,000 council seats that are being contested in a show of its dominance ahead of 2008 general elections.
"We consider these elections to be a trial run for the political parties going into the 2008 polls," said Tep Nitha, secretary general of the National Election Committee (NEC).
Casting his vote in his hometown of Takmao, Hun Sen, who is the CPP's deputy president, refused to comment on the possible outcome of the polls, saying he would respect rules forbidding party officers from talking about the elections.
Other voters, though, told AFP they thought the elections -- only the second local poll to be held in Cambodia after decades of conflict -- would help give democracy a better foothold in the country.
Voting officially closed at 3:00 pm (0800 GMT), although some polling stations remained open to handle an overflow of people.
The commune vote is expected to reveal a new political landscape in which the royalist Funcinpec party, which for years has been the CPP's coalition government partner, sees itself pushed to the fringes following months of infighting and the sacking of its president, Prince Norodom Ranariddh.
The opposition Sam Rainsy Party, historically Cambodia's political underdog, and Ranariddh's new self-named party now look likely to fill the political void left as a result of Funcinpec's decline, observers say.
"Security is good, but democracy is still limited," said civil servant Roith Sam, who was casting his ballot at a bustling polling station in the capital Phnom Penh.
"It's important for my nation to choose the right leaders -- I'm sure that the country will improve," he added.
Sunday's elections followed those held in 2002 amid accusations of vote tampering, intimidation and political violence.
More than 100 people died in the run-up to the 2002 election in what opposition parties and rights groups said were politically-motivated murders.
Although this year's campaign has seen little of the violence that marred the previous poll, there have been complaints of intimidation and a few reported political killings.
"The situation is a little better than previous elections, but violence still happened," said Koul Panha of the election watchdog Comfrel. His group reported more than 150 incidents of intimidation during the campaign period.
Amid fears of unrest, the NEC on Friday banned the use of SMS text messaging at the weekend, saying it could be used by political parties to try to unfairly influence voters after the official end of campaigning.
But Koul Panha said the move threatened to cripple election monitors relying on the technology to communicate with each other in the field.
Nearly 14,000 foreign and Cambodian election monitors were to be posted around the country on Sunday, election officials said.
Prior to the 2002 elections, commune officials were appointed by the government and had remained largely unchanged since the early 1980s.
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