Phnom Penh, July 28: Vote counting begins in Cambodia today with Khmer Rouge fighter-turned-Prime Minister Hun Sen expected to win a general election marred by a grenade attack and cries of vote fraud. Hun Sen appealed for calm on nationwide television after polls closed yesterday in the country's third election since a UN-brokered peace deal marked the beginning of the end of decades of civil war.

Voter turnout was high and first results are expected by midday on Monday. Final figures are not due until August 8 --depending on the progress of ballot boxes delivered by elephants from far-flung jungle outposts. Under a blazing sun, excited and worried Cambodians queued for hours outside polling stations at Buddhist temples, schools and bamboo huts to choose a new leader and Parliament.

While campaign violence was lower than in previous elections in 1993 and 1998, the fledgling democracy is still struggling with the legacy of war and the genocidal 1970s rule of the Khmer Rouge, which claimed an estimated 1.7 million lives.

Yesterday, a grenade exploded outside the headquarters of the Royalist Funcinpec Party several hours after polls opened. One person was slightly injured and police later found two more grenades near the royal palace.
Bureau Report