They handed out leaflets and carried banners, but that’s where the similarities between the Dhammayietra peace march and frenetic political campaigning on the streets of Phnom Penh ended. 

The European Union’s special representative for the Cambodian election pledged Tuesday to keep an open mind about the credibility of the polls. 

Kandal and Siem Reap pro­vinces are reporting the highest rates of violence and intimidation, the Committee for Free and Fair El­ections in Cambodia said. 

The CPP has not officially complained to the National Election Committee about the opposition’s use of anti-Vietnamese rhetoric in their campaign speeches. 

Second Prime Minister Hun Sen left Calmette Hospital Tues­day morning to continue his recuperation from an appendectomy at home, according to one of his aides. 

A cholera outbreak in the filthy western border town of Poipet is “finished,” Dr Mean Chhivun, de­puty director-general for the Min­istry of Health, said Tuesday. 

prey veng town – One can almost imagine opposition candidate Sam Rainsy and Second Prime Minister Hun Sen going at each other in this provincial town east of Phnom Penh. 

The National Election Com­mittee said Monday it hopes to eliminate more than half of the 60,000 national observers registered for Sunday’s election after receiving complaints from poll monitoring groups. 

An international aid project that helped modernize the problematic land-title system will suspend op­erations at the end of the month, project managers and donors confirmed this week. 

Cambodians were fascinated by the controversial Sam Rainsy Party television advertisement aired this week and last, showing footage of the March 30, 1997, grenade attack. 

The president of a controversial NGO cleared to provide 24,000 national election observers has insisted that Nhim Vanda, adviser to Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, has nothing to do with his association, although he confirmed over the weekend that he works for a government ag­ency headed by the retired CPP general. 

Ten days before the national election, Phnom Penh residents seemed more confident about revealing their political allegiances to pollsters than in the preceding two months. 

If there’s one thing Khmer Citizen’s Party president Nguon Soeur seems to relish, it’s taking swipes at his former boss. 

kep – Campaigning only a few kilometers from the Vietnamese border, Sam Rainsy pledged Monday to expel Vietnamese immigrants if he is elected prime minister. 

The first edition of a newsletter edited by royal confidante Ruom Ritt has launched a scathing attack on French Ambassador Gildas Le Lidec’s attitude toward human rights, citing remarks he made in a closed meeting with King Norodom Sihanouk.

Second Prime Minister Hun Sen is recovering from a Friday night operation to remove his appendix, and may not be re­leased from the hospital until the end of this week, according to two senior advisers.

Army Pointing at Hard-Line Rebels in Friday Assault

Gunmen on Friday attacked a convoy of electoral officials northeast of the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng, killing two military escorts and wounding five others, army and poll officials said.

Once scheduled to re-open in April 1997, the one-time first-class Mon­orom Hotel has turned into one of Phnom Penh’s not-so-classy construction sites.

Police shot and killed a suspected kidnapper during a raid on his hideout as the city’s gold shops re­mained closed Sunday be­cause of fears of kidnapping and political violence.

The Sangkum Thmei party has been forced to spread its limited campaigning resources thinly this week.