Cambodia's election council receives 256 complaints during 1st 3 weeks of campaigns

Political parties have filed 256 complaints against each other during the first three weeks of the campaigning towards the fifth National Assembly polls on July 28, Tep Nytha, secretary general of the National Election Committee (NEC) said Thursday. "Those complaints are related to party sign or banner destruction, campaigning disruptions, intimidation and violence against each other," he told reporters at a meeting at the NEC headquarters in Phnom Penh, adding that for violence, there have been only more than 10 complaints. He said 188 complaints have been already solved out. "In general, the situation is good and no remarkable violence during the first three weeks of the campaigning," he said. A month-long election campaign kicked off on June 27 and will complete on July 26. Eight political parties are competing in the parliamentary elections with about 9.67 million eligible voters. Two main parties are the ruling Cambodian People's Party of incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party of recently-pardoned leader Sam Rainsy. It is widely expected that Hun Sen's party will definitely win the majority vote in the forthcoming elections. Sixty-one-year-old Hun Sen, one of the world's longest-serving leaders, has been in power for 28 years and vowed to stay in the post until he's 74. In the last election in July 2008, Hun Sen's party won 90 seats out of the 123 seats in the National Assembly, while the opposition group totally gained 29 seats.