Irregularities raise doubts about Cambodia's election

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- In voting that saw scattered reports of irregularities, Cambodians were deciding Sunday whether to retain their long-serving prime minister to run one of Asia's poorest countries as it seeks to consolidate its recent tradition of democracy.

Prime Minister Hun Sen's party was expected to retain its 24-year hold on power in the elections, which were generally peaceful except for a small grenade explosion near the capital's Royal Palace. One person was slightly wounded.

Two other grenades were discovered near the palace before they could explode. No one claimed responsibility and the motive remained unclear.

"That explosion was a sabotage, trying to disturb the voting," National Election Commission spokesman Leng Sochea said. "But finally, the vast majority of voters have expressed their will."

Cambodian and international observers hoped Cambodia's third democratic election in a decade and help further erase the memory of the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 genocidal regime.

Final results are not expected until Aug. 8, although trends likely will become clear by late today.

Vote buying reported

About 600 international observers and 40,000 Cambodian security officials monitored polls in the country's 20 provinces and four municipalities. Irregularities -- such as missing names on voter lists -- were reported in several polling stations.

The monthlong campaign was less violent than in 1993 and 1998, but observers reported voter intimidation and vote buying.

"We did see some activity of concern at a number of polling stations," said Christine Todd Whitman, a former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency who led a team of about 50 American observers.

However, a European Union observer said the elections appeared to be generally free and fair.

The front-runners in polls for the 123-seat National Assembly are the Cambodian People's Party run by Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge fighter who has been in power since 1985; the royalist Funcinpec party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh; and the Sam Rainsy Party, named for a former finance minister and banker.

Observers said Hun Sen was favored to win -- though he may have to form a coalition government -- because of his support among local officials and the stability sought by many in a nation still struggling with the legacy of Pol Pot and his communist Khmer Rouge regime, which is blamed for 1.7 million deaths.

Cambodia is desperately poor -- more than a third of its 12.8 million people live on less than $1 a day. It also is plagued by violent crime, weak law enforcement, corruption, a bloated military, dismal health care and an untrained judiciary.

Fears of tampering

Thirty-one activists from all three main parties have been killed since January, according to the local election monitoring groups Comfrel and Nicfec.

Hun Sen said the elections were "held fairly, freely, justly, transparently."

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said the fairness of the election was "mixed." His party alleged that 300 people in two provinces could not vote because others cast ballots in their names.

Rainsy expressed fears that activists from the governing CPP might try to tamper with ballot boxes before counting begins.

Sam Rainsy campaigned on an anti-corruption ticket, while Ranariddh called for an end to Hun Sen's rule and promised curbs on economic migrants from neighboring Vietnam along with economic improvements.

The CPP has held power since 1979, when it was installed by an invading Vietnamese army.

Following its overthrow, the Khmer Rouge fought a guerrilla war with successive governments until 1998, when its leader, Pol Pot, died.

Many of the group's former officials now live freely, mostly in the western border town of Pailin, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold.

Among the early voters were Pol Pot's former No. 2 official, Nuon Chea, and the group's nominal head of state, Khieu Samphan. Both likely will be defendants in a future genocide tribunal.

"I hope people will forget the past. Cambodia needs solidarity," Nuon Chea said.