By Daniel Ten Kate
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former communist who has ruled for two decades, won 73 percent of seats in yesterday's election due to rising prosperity and nationalism that has strengthened his grip on power.
Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won 90 of 123 parliamentary seats, up from 73 in the previous election five years ago, Khan Keo Mono, a spokesman for the National Election Committee, said by phone today. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy's party, named after himself, won 26 seats, two more than in 2003. The royalist Funcinpec party, which took 26 seats and second place in the 2003 poll, won two this time due to party infighting.
``For Hun Sen it's really business as usual,'' said Jacob Ramsay, Southeast Asia analyst at Control Risks Group in Singapore. ``His dominance of the political landscape has been unrivaled since 1997 at least, and even prior to that there were very few doubts he was the most ambitious and shrewd politician in the country.''
The ruling party's victory will allow Hun Sen to form a government on his own for the first time. That may spur more foreign investment, which helped the economy average 10.6 percent growth in his previous term, even though inflation is putting a drag on growth and the government's consolidation of power increases the risk that corruption will grow.
``The fact that the elections were very well managed and went very peacefully shows that Cambodia as a third-world country is progressing,'' said Marvin Yeo, co-founder of Frontier Investment & Development Partners, one of several firms raising about $450 million in the country. ``With political stability over the next five years, it looks like it will bode very well for foreign investment sentiment toward the country.''
`Painful Reforms'
Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said Cambodia will take steps to reassure investors.
``We will ensure transparency, accountability in every sector and push through the necessary reforms,'' Cham Prasidh said in an interview July 4. ``We are a government that dares to do the painful reforms.''
Hun Sen's government is ``going to be pushing the machine faster, changing the gear from number one, to two, to three,'' he added.
The election may spell the end for Funcinpec, which split into two after joining Hun Sen's government following the previous election. The divided royalist parties managed to win four seats combined, leaving Sam Rainsy as Hun Sen's strongest opponent.
``The most surprising and impressive development has been Sam Rainsy raising his total number of seats,'' said Ramsay. ``That shows he's on the rise and going forward he will pose a bit of a challenge to the government.''
Sam Rainsy said yesterday that 200,000 voters in Phnom Penh were disenfranchised because their names were taken off voter lists. He called for a re-vote in the capital, where he outperformed Hun Sen in the previous election.
Less Violence
Election observers, who noted the missing names on voter lists, said the poll was cleaner than in previous years. Human rights groups have said political violence during this campaign season didn't reach the level seen in years past.
``This election was better,'' said Hang Puthea, executive director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, a non-governmental organization. ``We saw irregularities but they were fewer than we saw before.''
Sam Rainsy was probably exaggerating the number of people whose names were left off voter lists, Hang Puthea said. The National Election Committee has the authority to call a new election, an unlikely prospect at this point.
``The election went smoothly; we just had some problems with missing voter names,'' Khan Keo Mono said, adding that the election commission had yet to receive an official complaint from Sam Rainsy. Official results will be announced in about a month after election complaints are dealt with, he added.
Nationalist Boost
For now, Hun Sen, 56, is enjoying growing support as foreign investment creates jobs in the energy, agriculture, tourism and garment industries and he rewards rural voters with new schools and paved roads. The ongoing troop buildup along the Thai border near the ancient Preah Vihear temple has stirred up nationalism that gave him a boost heading into the election.
Thailand and Cambodia cabinet members met today in Siem Reap, home to Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple complex, to try to resolve the row over 4.6 square kilometers (2.9 miles) of disputed land. Thailand appointed a new foreign minister on July 26 to lead negotiations after the previous one was forced to resign over the issue.
Cambodia has started to rehabilitate its image as a corrupt beggar state after the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s killed most of the educated class. It received $763 million in foreign aid last year.
Foreign investment is set to double from $2.7 billion this year, according to the Cambodian Investment Board, a government agency. As the country prepares to open a stock market next year, foreign investment funds such as Leopard Capital are looking at banks, office buildings, luxury hotels and other projects.
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net
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