Voters have voiced concerns that one day is not long enough for everyone to vote.

“I fear such a short time will not allow everyone to vote for the political party they like,” an art shop owner in central Phnom Penh said Wednesday. “That would be a big loss.” 

kompong speu town – Prum Kim Thai is nervous.

The provincial election commission chief here is worried that final voter registration books and insoluble ink for the 578 polling stations in this mountainous province won’t arrive on time. 

prek russei commune, Kandal province – A calculator and stacks of riel notes are spread on the table in front of Eng Thorn, head of the CPP’s commune headquarters here. 

Agriculture experts are predicting a normal year for the wet-season rice harvest, despite a month-long drought that has delayed the planting of more than half the nation’s crop. 

One private television station broke the law on election coverage and another showed political bias, but overall media outlets are generally complying with poll regulations, the National Election Committee announced Wednes­day. 

In the latest twist in the election observer controversy, Natio­nal Election Committee officials admitted Wednesday that they had failed to substantially cut the large number of national obser­vers for Sunday’s elections. 

Businessman and politician Ted Ngoy has taken exception to a newspaper report in which Com­merce Minister Cham Pra­sidh allegedly criticized him for exaggerating his role in winning special trading status for Cam­bodia. 

kien svay district, Kandal pro­vince – Opposition figure Sam Rainsy on Wednesday expressed confidence he would emerge victorious in the polls Sunday, provided the election is free and fair. 

In their last major Phnom Penh rally before the elections, Son Sann Party candidates railed against Funcinpec, the CPP and illegal Vietnamese immigrants, while their party patriarch and hundreds of supporters listened. 

Cambodia will have to hold its breath for an entire week beyond election day before results are an­nounced, poll officials said Wed­nesday. 

Three RCAF engineers died and four were seriously injured when a truck struck an anti-tank mine buried on a road in Battam­bang province, a military spokes­man said Wednesday. 

Polling stations near the scene of Friday’s attack on an electoral convoy will be open for voting on July 26, despite continued security fears, officials said Wed­nesday. 

A Funcinpec activist in Kratie province was shot and killed outside his house last week, a party official said Tuesday. 

Municipal police on Monday night arrested an opposition party candidate and her husband, a high-ranking Ministry of Interior official, and accused the man of a five-month-old murder. 

Seven Petroleum Authority of Thailand stations that closed several months ago for lack of fuel may reopen today, a company official said Tuesday. 

By Kay Kimsong

and Stew Magnuson

the cambodia daily

Seventy present and former Cambodian child workers have called for an end to child labor in dangerous occupations.

In a manifesto released Tues­day, they called for the abolition of child soldiers, prostitutes, do­mestic laborers, porters and work­­­­­ers in quarries, slaughterhouses and sea fishing boats.

“I hope the government can establish a law against all child labor,” said 16-year-old Keng, a Cambodian who used to work as a beer girl in Bangkok.

She and five other members of the committee helped write the manifesto spoke at The For­eign Correspondents Club of Cambo­dia.

The manifesto calls for all construction workers and brick-factory workers to be at least 13 years old. Night street sweepers and garment factory workers should be at least 15, and beer girls at least 18, the manifesto said.

Such occupations as vendors, scavengers, shoe polishers and agricultural laborers are acceptable as long as there are regulations for safety and working hours and there is enough time for rest and study, the children said.

The manifesto asks communities to provide free education for all children.

It recommends laws to protect children from abuse, and severe punishment for em­ployers who exploit children.

The manifesto was written at a July 1-3 workshop organized by the local human rights group Licadho.

While the government has said in the past that there are no child soldiers in Cambodia, Tim Seaman, a children rights consultant to Licadho, said three former soldiers were involved in writing the manifesto.

Eighteen is the legal age for conscription, but there are no clear laws on the age of volunteer soldiers, he said.

Keng, who was trafficked into Thailand at the age of 14 to work as a beer girl for Tiger Beer, urged all children to avoid crossing the border.

She worked every day of the month serving beer and earned 2,000 baht a month (about $50 at the current exchange rate) until authorities put her in a detention center for being an illegal alien.

“There were many Cambodian children there,” she said of her six-month stay.

“We were beaten, badly treated by guards and not fed well.” Some of the children died while in custody, she said.

Another committee member, 16-year-old “Rotha,” who asked that an alias be used, spent the beginning of the year as a robber in Poipet in Banteay Meanchey.

After running away from home, he worked as a porter in the border town for two months until a Thai man approached him and asked if he “wanted to feel stronger.”

The man gave Rotha injections on an unknown drug twice a day, then taught him and other boys how to commit armed robberies.

Rotha said the man, who also sexually abused him, took their money in exchange for drugs.

“When I took the drug, I felt stronger than ever. I wasn’t afraid of anything,” he said.

Rotha was eventually rescued by another Thai man who gave him money to return home.

National Election Committee Secretary-General Im Suorsdei said Tuesday there are no commune or village chiefs on any poll­ing station commissions. 

Sixty-seven members of Cam­bodia’s expatriate community have volunteered to work for free as election observers over the coming weekend. 

Amid pressure from the international community, the National Election Committee has “secretly” distributed official yellow election observer cards to three internationally recognized Cambodian NGOs, NEC officials said Tues­day.