ASEAN will observe Cambodian elections

ASEAN will observe Cambodian elections

MANILA (AP): Southeast Asian countries will send 75 observers to the July 26 Cambodian elections to help ensure orderly polls, an official said yesterday.

Philippine Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Lauro Baja said the nine members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to shoulder the costs of sending the observers.

ASEAN senior officials met in Manila yesterday to discuss regional security, India's recent nuclear tests and preparations for Cambodia's elections.

Baja said the ASEAN poll watchers would be part of a 400- member UN international monitoring team requested by the Cambodian government.

Cambodian leader Hun Sen ousted his co-premier, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, last July, shattering a tense dual premiership formed after UN-led elections in 1993.