Aid workers keen to return to tense western Myanmar

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Aid workers keen to return to tense western Myanmar

When to strike: Tense decisions for Obama on Syria

Cambodia"s Hun Sen set to retain power in tense election

1 of 4. Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen shows his ballot before casting it in the general elections at a polling station in Kandal province July 28, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Damir Sagolj

By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH | Sat Jul 27, 2013 11:58pm EDT

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Cambodians voted on Sunday in an election likely to hand another five years in power to Asia’s longest-serving prime minister, Hun Sen, but an energized opposition says there have been irregularities and it will continue to fight for true democracy.

The opposition believes nearly a million names are missing from voter lists and has complained about the disruption of meetings, alleged vote-buying and campaigning by the security forces for Hun Sen, who defected from the genocidal Khmer Rouge and was first appointed premier in 1985.

“The partisanship of the military and police has created an intimidating atmosphere for voters in many parts of the country,” U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) is confident of victory but political analysts believe a stronger opposition may dent its majority.

More than 9.6 million people are eligible to vote, with polls opening at 7 a.m. (7 p.m. EDT) and closing at 3 p.m. (3 a.m. EDT). Early results may come on Sunday evening.

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) has been buoyed by the return home of a popular party leader, former finance minister Sam Rainsy, after a royal pardon.

Sam Rainsy had faced the threat of a jail sentence handed down in 2010 for spreading disinformation and falsifying maps to contest a new border agreed with Vietnam, charges he called politically motivated.

He returned to Cambodia too late to register to run in the election, or even to vote, and the electoral authorities rejected his late request to do so.

But Sam Rainsy has campaigned strongly for the opposition, attracting large crowds, and has complained to international observers of irregularities in the running of the election.

“In spite of this uphill battle, any gain we make will be very significant. The election is not the end of our fight, it will be the beginning of the fight for real democracy,” he said on Saturday.

Under Hun Sen, Cambodia has been transformed from a war-torn basket case into one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economies, helped by a burgeoning garment export industry and growing political and investment ties with China.

But the breakneck economic growth has been accompanied by a rise in social tensions over poor factory conditions and rural land rights in the country of 14 million, where a third of people live on less than 65 U.S. cents per day.

Hun Sen’s CPP is a formidable electoral machine, with millions more party members, that easily outguns the opposition. Adding to its advantages is a compliant media, its deep pockets, and an election system that is prone to government meddling.

“The CPP has 5.7 million members; the other party has only just over a million,” said CPP lawmaker Cheam Teap, confident of victory in Sunday’s ballot.

Hun Sen’s CPP had 90 of the 123 seats in the outgoing parliament while the CNRP had 29.

CPP’s Cheam Yeap said the ruling party would win between 88 and 92 seats, but some analysts believe the opposition has its best chance in years of denting the CPP majority.

“The opposition will gain more seats, judging by all the support we’ve seen,” said independent analyst Chea Vannath.

“But regardless of how many more seats the parties get, they should be united for the country rather than confronting each other,” she added, advocating a government of national unity.

Alcohol sales and political campaigning were banned for 48 hours from midnight on Friday to ensure calm.

(Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Mchael Perry)

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Cambodia"s Hun Sen set to retain power in tense election

World Briefing | Asia: China Calls Clash in Tense Region a ‘Terrorist Attack’

HONG KONG — China’s state-run media on Thursday called a deadly clash a day earlier in an ethnically divided far western region a “terrorist attack,” and raised the death toll from the bloodshed.

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An earlier report from China’s official news agency, Xinhua, said 27 people had died in the violence that erupted in the Xinjiang region, where there are tensions between Uighurs, an overwhelmingly Muslim Turkic ethnic minority, and China’s Han majority. But a new report from Xinhua gave a total death toll of 35.

It said 24 people, including 16 Uighurs, were killed by rioters. Also, the police shot and killed 11 of the rioters, who had attacked a police station, a squad of antiriot police officers and government offices in Lukqun, a township in Turpan Prefecture, Xinhua said. The report gave no explanation for the attack.

The Chinese government often calls incidents of Uighur violence in Xinjiang terrorist attacks.

Advocates of Uighur self-rule and other critics say the government grossly exaggerates the level of organization behind the unrest.

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World Briefing | Asia: China Calls Clash in Tense Region a ‘Terrorist Attack’

Tense meeting between Obama, House GOP

The president last met with the House Republicans at their 2010 retreat. | AP Photo

House Republicans were told Wednesday morning to act like they belong when President Barack Obama visits them on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the GOP conference chairwoman, told her colleagues Wednesday morning at the Capitol Hill Club that they should not take pictures of the president or ask him for his autograph when he speaks to them in the Capitol basement.

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It’s an important moment for Speaker John Boehner’s 232-member conference — the group that has been Obama’s chief sparring partner since it took the majority in 2010. The last time Obama met with the House GOP was at their retreat in 2010, where cameras captured the president speaking to House Republicans — including Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

(Also on POLITICO: Obama’s risky Hill strategy)

Wednesday’s visit, which will be held in the Capitol basement, is scheduled to be one hour. Boehner will give a brief introduction, before turning the floor over to McMorris Rodgers, who will introduce Obama.

Lawmakers were told to be in HC-5, their meeting room, by 1:15 p.m., ahead of the 1:30 p.m. meeting, sources said. No food will be served, as extra chairs are needed to accommodate what’s expected to be a larger-than-usual crowd.

The meeting is part of an aggressive outreach effort by the president to Hill lawmakers to try and find common ground on the deficit. On Tuesday, Obama met with Senate Democrats, and on Thursday, he will meet with Senate Republicans and House Democrats.

GOP leadership aides expect lawmakers to ask Obama somewhere in the neighborhood of three or four questions. GOP leadership originally mulled an open mic session with the president, but that idea was scratched.

(Also on POLITICO: Is Obama serious about a grand bargain?)

Before Obama comes to the Hill, House Republicans will hold an unannounced meeting for their members at 9 a.m. at the Capitol Hill Club, a GOP hangout next to the Republican National Committee headquarters.

The meeting is almost certain to focus on budgetary matters, including Ryan’s 2014 budget — which was introduced on Tuesday — and tax reform. According to GOP sources, when Obama’s aides first requested the meeting with House Republicans, they said he wanted to come to Capitol Hill to focus on something completely different: his upcoming trip to Israel.

POLITICO – TOP Stories

Tense meeting between Obama, House GOP