Japan calls for free and fair polls in Cambodia

Japan’s foreign minister yesterday urged Cambodia to hold free and fair elections but did not comment on its government’s actions against opponents during talks with the southeast Asian nation’s longserving Prime Minister, Hun Sen.

Foreign Minister Taro Kono said that Tokyo would help Cambodia with free and fair elections, according to a spokesman for his office.

He also confirmed that Japan would supply ballot boxes for the July polls.

Rights groups and Western nations have expressed concern about the conditions under which the election will be held, with the opposition party dissolved by court order after a complaint by the government, one of its leaders imprisoned and the other in selfimposed exile, and critical media outlets forced to shut down.

A Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman earlier had also said the sensitive questions about the election had not been raised in the talks.