PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party coasted toward victory in parliamentary elections Sunday that were expected to usher in a new term for the former Khmer Rouge soldier who has ruled for 23 years, the party and election monitors said.
Just hours after polling stations closed, the ruling Cambodian People's Party appeared to be «leading everywhere, according to our preliminary results,» party spokesman Khieu Kanharith said. «It is only a matter of waiting to see how many seats we will get.
Estimates from party agents at polling stations «indicate that we could win at least 80 seats,» he said _ a result that would strengthen the party's dominance and give it a two-thirds majority in the 123-seat lower house.
Thun Saray, head of Cambodian election monitoring group Comfrel, said it was «early to declare victory but the trend shows that CPP is winning.
Hun Sen's popularity at the polls was buoyed by a surge of nationalism amid a tense border dispute with neighboring Thailand.
The 57-year-old Hun Sen's reputation as a strongman who intimidates rivals served him well in the election campaign, with voters rallying around the leader as Cambodian troops faced off with Thai soldiers for a second week at a disputed 11th century Hindu temple.
In power since 1985, Hun Sen is Asia's longest-serving leader. He was expected to win the vote even before the military standoff escalated earlier this month. But patriotic passions over Preah Vihear temple and Hun Sen's firm stance against Thailand have swayed many undecided voters in his favor, analysts say.
«Everybody now supports the government because this is a national issue,» said Kek Galabru, a prominent Cambodian human rights activist and election monitor. «More people will vote for (Hun Sen) to give him more power to deal with Preah Vihear.
Chan Sim, a 72-year-old voter in the capital, said he cast his ballot for Hun Sen's ruling party «because of its good leadership and ability to keep unity.
More than 8 million of Cambodia's 14 million people were eligible to vote in Sunday's election. Eleven parties were vying for seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, with the winner forming a new government to run the country for the next five years.
Hun Sen had voiced little doubt that his party, which held 73 assembly seats during the past five-year term, would return with an overwhelming majority.
«I wish to state it very clearly this way: No one can defeat Hun Sen,» the prime minister said earlier this year.
In 1985, Hun Sen was appointed prime minister of a Vietnamese-installed communist government after the ouster of the Khmer Rouge.
Internationally, he has faced criticism for alleged corruption and human rights abuses. But Hun Sen argues that his tenure has ushered in peace and stability after the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule, during which an estimated 1.7 million people died before it was toppled by an invading Vietnamese army.
A former Khmer Rouge soldier, Hun Sen has embraced free-market policies that have recently made Cambodia's economy one of the fastest growing in Asia, expanding at 11 percent in each of the past three years.
The opposition Sam Rainsy Party, which held 24 seats in the lower house of Parliament, campaigned for an end to alleged government corruption, greater attention to human rights and the country's poor. More than a third of Cambodians live on less than US$1 a day.
An irate Sam Rainsy claimed that some 200,000 registered voters in the capital, Phnom Penh, where the opposition is strongest, were unable to cast ballots because their names had been left off voter lists. He demanded a new vote in the city.
National Election Committee chief Tep Nitha dismissed the fraud allegation at a separate news conference, saying voters had been told to check if their names were on voting lists. Names that could not be confirmed were deleted during a verification period last year, he said.
This year's election campaign was upstaged by the military standoff with Thailand.
The controversy revolves around 1.8 square miles (4.6 kilometers) of land that has been in dispute since French colonialists withdrew from Cambodia in the 1950s.
The International Court of Justice awarded the temple site to Cambodia in 1962, but anger flared in Thailand last month after Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej backed Cambodia's successful bid for the temple to be listed as a U.N. World Heritage Site.
Thailand sent troops to the border July 15 after Thai anti-government demonstrators assembled near the temple. Cambodia responded by sending its own troops to the border.
The two countries plan to resume negotiations on the border row Monday. Cambodia says it will renew a call for the U.N. Security Council to take up the issue if the talks fail again.
Just hours after polling stations closed, the ruling Cambodian People's Party appeared to be «leading everywhere, according to our preliminary results,» party spokesman Khieu Kanharith said. «It is only a matter of waiting to see how many seats we will get.
Estimates from party agents at polling stations «indicate that we could win at least 80 seats,» he said _ a result that would strengthen the party's dominance and give it a two-thirds majority in the 123-seat lower house.
Thun Saray, head of Cambodian election monitoring group Comfrel, said it was «early to declare victory but the trend shows that CPP is winning.
Hun Sen's popularity at the polls was buoyed by a surge of nationalism amid a tense border dispute with neighboring Thailand.
The 57-year-old Hun Sen's reputation as a strongman who intimidates rivals served him well in the election campaign, with voters rallying around the leader as Cambodian troops faced off with Thai soldiers for a second week at a disputed 11th century Hindu temple.
In power since 1985, Hun Sen is Asia's longest-serving leader. He was expected to win the vote even before the military standoff escalated earlier this month. But patriotic passions over Preah Vihear temple and Hun Sen's firm stance against Thailand have swayed many undecided voters in his favor, analysts say.
«Everybody now supports the government because this is a national issue,» said Kek Galabru, a prominent Cambodian human rights activist and election monitor. «More people will vote for (Hun Sen) to give him more power to deal with Preah Vihear.
Chan Sim, a 72-year-old voter in the capital, said he cast his ballot for Hun Sen's ruling party «because of its good leadership and ability to keep unity.
More than 8 million of Cambodia's 14 million people were eligible to vote in Sunday's election. Eleven parties were vying for seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, with the winner forming a new government to run the country for the next five years.
Hun Sen had voiced little doubt that his party, which held 73 assembly seats during the past five-year term, would return with an overwhelming majority.
«I wish to state it very clearly this way: No one can defeat Hun Sen,» the prime minister said earlier this year.
In 1985, Hun Sen was appointed prime minister of a Vietnamese-installed communist government after the ouster of the Khmer Rouge.
Internationally, he has faced criticism for alleged corruption and human rights abuses. But Hun Sen argues that his tenure has ushered in peace and stability after the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule, during which an estimated 1.7 million people died before it was toppled by an invading Vietnamese army.
A former Khmer Rouge soldier, Hun Sen has embraced free-market policies that have recently made Cambodia's economy one of the fastest growing in Asia, expanding at 11 percent in each of the past three years.
The opposition Sam Rainsy Party, which held 24 seats in the lower house of Parliament, campaigned for an end to alleged government corruption, greater attention to human rights and the country's poor. More than a third of Cambodians live on less than US$1 a day.
An irate Sam Rainsy claimed that some 200,000 registered voters in the capital, Phnom Penh, where the opposition is strongest, were unable to cast ballots because their names had been left off voter lists. He demanded a new vote in the city.
National Election Committee chief Tep Nitha dismissed the fraud allegation at a separate news conference, saying voters had been told to check if their names were on voting lists. Names that could not be confirmed were deleted during a verification period last year, he said.
This year's election campaign was upstaged by the military standoff with Thailand.
The controversy revolves around 1.8 square miles (4.6 kilometers) of land that has been in dispute since French colonialists withdrew from Cambodia in the 1950s.
The International Court of Justice awarded the temple site to Cambodia in 1962, but anger flared in Thailand last month after Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej backed Cambodia's successful bid for the temple to be listed as a U.N. World Heritage Site.
Thailand sent troops to the border July 15 after Thai anti-government demonstrators assembled near the temple. Cambodia responded by sending its own troops to the border.
The two countries plan to resume negotiations on the border row Monday. Cambodia says it will renew a call for the U.N. Security Council to take up the issue if the talks fail again.
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