US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday told Prime Minister Hun Sen, who critics charge is attempting to manipulate the vote, that the Washington hoped upcoming general elections would be free, fair and without violence.
Powell said democratic elections were ``the necessary factor and the wish of the Cambodian people,'' according to a Cambodian spokesman, Eang Sophalleth, attending the 45-minute meeting.
The run-up to the July 27 elections has already been marred by intimidation and violence against opponents of Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP).
Opposition leaders like Sam Rainsy, whom Powell met briefly before his talks with Hun Sen, believe the CPP is guaranteed an electoral victory because it uses strong-arm tactics, denies opponents equal access to the media and has stacked election commissions with its own members.
``He's [Powell] concerned about violence and access to the media,'' Rainsy told reporters after meeting Powell. ``I told him that the election cannot be free and fair, but at least we can try to make it acceptable.''
Rainsy, who helms the self-named Sam Rainsy Party, said Powell sent ``a powerful message to Hun Sen that the United States is watching [him].''
On Wednesday, Powell told a press conference that ``the Cambodian people deserve a government with legitimacy that free and fair elections will bring.''
The US secretary was in Cambodia to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum that discussed issues ranging from the detention of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Sok An, a minister who also briefed reporters on the Hun Sen-Powell meeting, said the prime minister told Powell that ``winning or losing will not be important for him.
But what is most important for him is an election that is free, fair, transparent and free of violence.''
Hun Sen also assured Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer yesterday that the elections would be free and fair.
Downer said international concerns would be raised during the run-up to the election, but that ``the solution to that is for us to send election monitors.''
Australia will send election monitors from its Parliament ``to help keep the pressure on the various parties in Cambodia and in particular the government to ensure the elections are free and fair,'' Downer told reporters.
Hun Sen also asked Powell that the US continue its assistance to develop Cambodia, one of the world's poorest nations with a recent history of war and revolution.
But Rainsy said he asked Powell that Washington ``not renew assistance to Cambodia as long as Hun Sen keeps control of Cambodia.''
He said the US should also use its influence to block aid by international agencies like the World Bank because such assistance puts ``money into the pockets of corrupt Cambodian officials while increasing the burden of debt for Cambodian people.''
Cambodia's month-long electoral campaign begins June 26. Some 6.2 million voters will cast their ballots July 27 to choose a new legislature which will subsequently appoint a government for the next five years.
More than a dozen activists opposing Hun Sen's party have been slain in the past seven months and scores more have faced other forms of violence and intimidation, human rights groups say. At least one politician belonging to the CPP was killed during the same period.
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