PHNOM PENH, July 27 (AFP) : Polls closed in Cambodia Sunday after general elections widely expected to extend Prime Minister Hun Sen's 23-year grip on power. "As scheduled, we closed the polling stations at 3:00 pm (0800 GMT)," Tep Nytha, secretary general of the National Election Committee, told AFP.
The 15,000 polling stations opened for eight hours of balloting, conducted under the eyes of 13,000 domestic and international observers.
Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) says it wants to expand its majority in the 123-seat parliament so that it can form a single-party government. The CPP currently has 73 seats, and party officials say they expect to clinch at least eight more.
More than eight million people are registered to vote in Cambodia. Official results could take days to be announced, but the parties were expected to release their own tallies later Sunday.
Meanwhile: An opposition-aligned radio station in Cambodia was shuttered the night before Sunday's general election, which is expected to extend Prime
Minister Hun Sen's 23-year rule, officials said.
About 20 police officers and soldiers surrounded FM 93.5 radio station Saturday night and forced it to shut down after it broadcast a reading of the book "The Root in the Rock," opposition leader Sam Rainsy's writings about his political
life, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.
He insisted the government was within its rights to shut down the station, saying its broadcast licence had been revoked Sunday because it had ignored repeated requests to stop broadcasting Sam Rainsy's book.
"The broadcast had a very serious affect on the election. It was the final day for the people to make a decision," Khieu Kanharith said.
"It had influence on the decision of the voters while other parties were quiet," he added.
Kek Galabru, head of rights group Licadho, criticised the closure, which she said was "an intimidation."
"They broadcast a book written by Sam Rainsy, that's why it was closed," she told AFP, adding that the country's National Election Committee should enforce the election law.
Cambodian voters cast ballots Sunday in legislative elections that Hun Sen's ruling party is expected to dominate.
