PHNOM PENH REGIME ALTERS STANCE ON FREE ELECTIONS

After rejecting a French-Indonesian peace plan for Cambodia, the Phnom Penh government this week made a significant concession to resistance demands with its own counter-proposals. At an international conference in Paris, the Phnom Penh delegation proposed that free elections be held in Cambodia six months after the signing of a ceasefire accord, doubling the time it was prepared to wait before a vote.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has previously insisted elections be held three months after the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops at the end of the September, the date Phnom Penh has set for a ceasefire after 10 years of civil war. The resistance factions, including that led by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, say three months would not be enough to organize free elections.