Cambodian PM's election sweep slammed as not free or fair

Cambodia's flawed elections left the ruling party led by strongman Hun Sen eying a near clean sweep of parliament today, after what the banned opposition dismissed as a hollow victory.

Yesterday's vote has cemented Hun Sen's three-decade reign, but observers say that questions of legitimacy will haunt the wily political survivor as frustration sets in over lack of change.

Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) expects to amass a minimum of 115 out of 125 national assembly positions -- or more than 90 percent of those up for grabs -- spokesman Sok Eysan told AFP today.

"The overwhelming support of the Cambodian people gave... Hun Sen another chance to continue his historical mission,"he said.

Some 8.3 million people registered to cast their votes in Cambodia's sixth general election since United Nations-sponsored polls were held in 1993 after decades of conflict.

But yesterday's vote lacked any serious contenders after Hun Sen backed a crackdown on the opposition last year that saw authorities arrest one of its leaders and the Supreme Court dissolve the party.

It also was virtually devoid of prominent local and international election monitors, who withdrew from the discredited process.

Hun Sen, who came to power in 1985 in a country still plagued by civil war, moved against all forms of dissent in the run-up to the poll, pressuring civil society, independent media and political opponents.

Many western governments, who also pulled support from the vote, criticised it for lacking credibility and slammed the outcome.

The White House said it was "neither free nor fair and failed to represent the will of the Cambodian people."