CAMBODIANS ELECTION' S RALLYING

TENS OF THOUSANDS of supporters of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen rallied in Phenom Penh on the last day of electoral campaigning on Friday ahead of general election at the weekend that will likely hand him victory and extend his 33 year rule.

Sunday's elections will be Cambodia's sixth since it emerged from decades of war in 1993 and many fear the vote will be a sham following a crackdown by Hun Sen, the world's largest serving Prime Minister, the critics including  civil society and independent media.

"I won't lead the party into defeat," Hun Sen told supporters as they waved the blue flags of his ruling Cambodian People's Party [CPP].

Bands sang songs, praising Hung Sen and the achievements of his party.

" Party members must vote for their own party, not for another party," said the former Khmer Rouge commander who eventually from Pol Pot's regime.

The election has been criticised by the United Nations and Western countries as fundamentally flawed after Cambodia's Supreme Court  last year dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party [CNRP] after it was accused of plotting to topple the government.

Its leader, Kem Sokha was imprisoned for treason.

The party, which had only narrowly lost the  2013  election, denied the accusation and most CNRP leaders have since fled abroad, leaving no significant competitor to Hun Sen's party.

ASEAN Parliiamentarians  for  Human Rights  [ APHR]  warned  that Sunday's  vote was a foregone conclusion.

" This is a  farcical ritual to rubber stamp  Hun Sen's  grip on power, APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of the  Malaysian parliament said in a statement. [Agencies]