February 4, 2002	Monday	Ziqa’ad 20, 1422

PHNOM PENH, Feb 3: Cambodians voted on Sunday in the country’s first local elections, expected to loosen the iron grip Prime Minister Hun Sen holds on rural politics and test his popularity ahead of national polls in 2003.

Officials and observers said voting passed off peacefully in most parts of the impoverished Southeast Asian country after more than 20 political activists died in pre-poll violence. Widespread political intimidation has also raised doubts about the poll’s fairness.

The election to choose leaders of Cambodia’s 1,621 communes — clusters of tiny villages — has been hailed as a step forward for democracy because it is the first time since independence in 1953 that Cambodians have been able to choose local leaders.

East Timor president-in-waiting Xanana Gusmao, overseeing polling for the Asia Network for Free Elections, said it was a “great experience” to help the Cambodian people on their road to democracy. He said the elections appeared to have gone smoothly.

“As far as I can see, they are going well,” Gusmao told reporters at a voting booth in Phnom Penh.

Polling stations closed at 3 p.m (0800 GMT) and electoral officials have said preliminary results would be issued by February 6, but some early results could appear on Monday if the count proceeded smoothly.

Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party has controlled the communes for almost two decades and is expected to come out on top in the polls, but rival parties, particularly the royalist Funcinpec and the Sam Rainsy Party, will probably make gains.

This could give them powerbases to challenge for next year’s general election. The poll will also be a gauge of support for Hun Sen, who has dominated Cambodian politics for years.

Sam Rainsy, outspoken critic of Hun Sen, cast his vote on Sunday morning saying the election process was seriously flawed.

“My party has been intimidated, threatened and so far over 10 of my activists have been killed,” he told reporters. “I am very concerned by the integrity of the counting process.”

The commune elections are part of an evolving democratic system proscribed by the United Nations as part of a 1991 peace accord that helped end a long civil war.—Reuters