Cambodia's opposition leader Sam Rainsy addresses thousands of his supporters in the capital , Phnom Penh.
Australian ABC News
Thousands of opposition supporters in Cambodia have marched through the capital Phnom Penh for the start of a three-day protest over alleged election irregularities.
It's the opposition's latest attempts to overturn the Prime Minister Hun Sen following his disputed win in the July election.
Initial
estimates point to a similar turnout to last weekend's rally, which was
attended by around 20,000 people, who were calling for an independent
probe into the disputed election.
The opposition had been promising this rally "will be bigger than before" and will continue until at least Tuesday.
Anti-riot
and military police were already deployed at key locations across the
city on Saturday but are keeping a low profile at the protest rally,
which is being staged at Democracy Park.
Many protesters are
carrying banners reading 'my vote, my nation' and 'where is my vote?', a
reference to the alleged poll fraud which saw the Hun Sen's Cambodian
People's Party (CPP) win 68 seats to 55 for the opposition Cambodia
National Rescue Party (CNRP).
"We cannot accept the fake results," CNRP's deputy, Kem Sokha told the rally.
"I will not betray the will of the voters," he said.
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) rejects the results, alleging widespread vote rigging.
It
also filed a lawsuit against three top officials of the National
Election Committee but that has been rejected by the Phnom Penh
Municipal Court, apparently because the case is not under the court's
jurisdiction.
More talks
The demonstrations come ahead of another scheduled meeting between the two main parties on Monday.
It
was unclear whether Hun Sen would personally attend, as he did in a
rare 30-minute meeting on Saturday which was hosted by the country's
King Norodom Sihamoni at the Royal Palace.
Hun Sen and the opposition chief were seen shaking hands in footage broadcast by state-run television.
Mr
Rainsy said the brief talks had resulted in limited progress in ending
the political paralysis gripping the kingdom, but described it as a
"first step" forward.
The king invited elected lawmakers to the
first meeting of parliament on September 23 and asked the party leaders
to continue their meetings.
But in his address to protesters, Kem Sokha said opposition lawmakers will not attend the opening of the parliament.
AFP
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