For the past 46 months, Keat Chhon has had one of the more difficult jobs in Cambodia.

As the country’s top finance of­ficial, he has been in charge of put­­ting policies and laws into ef­fect that have not always been pop­ular with other members of the government. Then he has had to face international donors when those policies failed to be implemented.

Just after 7:30 am Sunday, First Prime Minister Ung Huot and his wife, Ung Malis Yvonne, took their positions at the back of a line, and waited with  about 100 voters outside Wat Tuol Tom Pong polling station in Phnom Penh.

takhmau – Second Prime Mi­nister Hun Sen said the elections mark a “victory” for Cam­bodians, especially coming just a year after the bloody clashes in Phnom Penh.

kompong cham town – Moments be­fore casting his ballot in Sun­day’s elections, opposition leader Sam Rainsy slammed the Joint Inter­national Observer Group’s positive assessment of poll conditions, saying it opened the way for electoral fraud.

kompong cham town – Deposed first prime minister Prince Nor­odom Ranariddh said Sunday he is optimistic the elections will be deemed free and fair, labeling the elections as “a victory for democracy and the people of Cambodia.”

siem reap town – Siem Reap’s voters turned out early at polling stations, and there were no conflicts between approved observer groups and those disqualified in the hours preceding the vote.

poum dy prampi, Siem Reap Pro­vince – They came by rick­ety dinghy and hooded longboat, using floating vessels that are their homes and workplaces to get to a voting booth.

sisophon, Banteay Meanchey province – Meas Yin was happy to come to vote but wasn’t sure what to do. She took the ballot paper, walked to the polling booth, hesitated a moment and then wandered over to her husband who had just cast his vote.

It started in the morning with a crush and ended with a straggle.

Eager Phnom Penh voters stood in line at 7 am, shading themselves from the morning sun, then mashed themselves in polling station doorways for a chance to cast their ballots.

As polling came to a close Sun­day, attention shifted to the counting process and fears that fraud could thwart the will of the voters.

Although crowded polls were the biggest distraction Sunday, observers reported scattered problems of being denied access.

Cambodians turned out en masse, in some cases mobbing polling stations, to vote in historic elections Sunday in hopes of giving the country a second chance at peace, stability and a legitimate government.

Khmer Rouge Said To Kill at Least 8 Near Anlong Veng

Forces believed to be Khmer Rouge guerrillas launched a deadly Sunday morning attack in northern Cambodia, stealing part of the election day spotlight from their adversaries in Phnom Penh.

takeo town – Mei Kosal and his wife Nud Sarat arrived at their pagoda polling station a full day early.

anlong romeat commune, Kan­dal province – Som Soeun, the chief of the com­mune election commission here, knows the election laws like a farmer knows his rice paddy.

On the eve of historic and high-stakes national elections, the head of a leading national watchdog group said that widespread intimidation has made it impossible for today’s polls to be considered free and fair.

NEC Boots 2 Nat’l Observer Groups At Last Minute

kompong cham town – With less than 16 hours before the polls open, electoral officials and ob­servers here were scrambling to ensure members of two disqualified observer groups will be kept out of voting stations.

battambang town – The EU’s special representative called Friday for an investigation into the large number of national observers accredited for Sunday’s elections, while the provincial election commission worked through the night to get internationally recognized groups registered in time. 

Thousands of people took to the streets of Phnom Penh on Friday to march for peace or support their favorite candidate, marking the end of a boisterous, month-long campaign. 

But Poll Can Be ‘Broadly Representative’ of Nation

Despite violence and intimidation of voters, Sunday’s elections can be “broadly representative” of the people’s will if there are no attempts to manipulate the results, the spokesman for the Joint International Observer Group said Friday.