Hun Sen set to win election

A month of campaigning kicked off in Cambodia yesterday for an election almost certain to give another five years in power to Prime Minister Hun Sen, an ex-Khmer Rouge soldier in charge for the last 23 years.

Thousands of supporters turned up at rallies for Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP), and its main challenger, the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), led by its eponymous French-educated former finance minister.

Hun Sen, 57, who lost an eye in Pol Pot's assault on Phnom Penh in 1975, did not address the rally, leaving it to party president Chea Sim to unleash the torrents of anti-SRP invective and threats of renewed fighting that typify CPP electioneering.