At a recent  meeting in Portland, several local and national Cambodians activists said they believe Prime Minister Hun Sen already has tilted the election in his favor by controlling the media and blocking voter registration for those who support his opponents Hun Sen, leader of the Cambodian People's Party, already has "shot his way the top," said PekThov Tan, president of the World Cambodian Congress, and he'll either win by force or by running a crooked election. More than 100 of the Portland area's 4,000 Cambodians met in Beaverton with PekThov Tan, who directs the worldwide organization from New York, to discuss ways to help move Cambodia toward democracy. Most of them fled Cambodia during the 1970s when the Khmer Rouge murdered 2 million Cambodians in attempt to wipe out all opposition.  Many of their relatives and friends were murdered.

The World Cambodian Congress is not a political party, and does not support one candidate over another in the election.  "We're here to see democracy in Cambodia," PekThov Tan said.  In March, its lobbying efforts helped secure of US House of Representatives resolution demanding free Cambodian elections and that the United States not assist "any Cambodian government that arises from a fraudulent electoral process." Oregon Cambodians were active in acquiring 1,200 of the 6,000 signatures on the petition urging President Clinton to support free elections in Cambodia, PekThov Tan said.  "Will the July 26 election be free and fair? We can see which way it's going to go," he said.

Hun Sen called for parliamentary elections earlier this year to earn international legitimacy and restore aid dollars cut off after the ousted his co-prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranarridh, in the July 1997 coup.  The National Election Committee, which oversees the election, "is a farce," said PekThov Tan, because it was hand-picked by Hun Sen.  Authorities used red tape to slow registration by those supporting Hun Sen's opponents, while his supporters had an easy time of it, he said.  "They didn't even have to leave their homes."  The ruling Cambodian People's Party controls the country's 10 radio stations, PekThov Tan said.  The 39 political parties have five minutes a day on one station.  "They (the CPP) have the whole day."

PekThov Tan said the Cambodian People's Party is the official name for the Khmer Rouge.  The Political Handbook of the World says the party is descended from the original Khmer movement, but it split when Vietnam took over the country.  Hun Sen came to power in 1985, and Vietnam left him in place when it departed in 1989.

Although 650 international observers, including a separate US contingent of 90, will watch for election fraud, that isn't enough to ensure fair elections, PekThov Tan said.  "There are 1,200 polling places," he said.  At those lacking observers, the CPP "can do what it wants." "Maybe the elections would be free and fair if CPP believed in them," but "they don't have a good track record," Sonny Tan said.