Cambodian poll boycott threat dismissed

The Cambodian co-Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has dismissed an opposition threat to boycott the elections due in July, saying the poll would go ahead on schedule.

Hun Sen was responding to a statement by the opposition coalition led by the ousted co-Prime Minister, Prince Ranariddh, accusing him of perverting the electoral process and trying to use the polls as an excuse to legitimise his position.

Meanwhile an explosive device, placed near the premises of an ethnic Vietnamese association in Phnom Penh, has been made safe by the authorities.

It was discovered as Cambodians marked the nineteenth anniversary of the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime by Vietnamese forces.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service