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PHNOM PENH, Jul 25 (Reuters) Cambodians go to the polls on Sunday in an election overshadowed by a row with neighbouring Thailand over a 900-year-old temple that has inflamed nationalist passions and led to troop build-ups along the border.
Both the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) have jumped on the dispute surrounding the Preah Vihear temple, which sits on a jungle-clad escarpment separating the two southeast Asian countries.
However, the nationalist fervour is unlikely to affect the outcome of a vote almost certain to hand another five years in power to Hun Sen, the one-eyed, 57-year-old ex-Khmer Rouge guerrilla and prime minister for the past 23 years.
''The result is not in doubt,'' said Kek Galabru, head of Phnom Penh-based human rights group LICADHO, adding that the formerly communist but now firmly free-market CPP would probably win an outright majority in the 123-seat parliament.
As well as Hun Sen's argument that he has brought peace and stability after decades of Cold War upheaval and the ravages of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, the CPP has presided over an economy that has enjoyed five years of near double-digit growth.
Another indicator of the improving lot of the country's 14 million people is a fall in political violence, although human rights groups say four CPP and two SRP activists -- including one opposition journalist -- were murdered in the month before polling.
''The number of cases of murder, intimidation, threats and irregularities in these elections is lower than in previous elections,'' local rights groups said in a joint statement.
TEMPLE TALKS The CPP is so confident of victory it has scheduled talks over Preah Vihear with Thai officials in the tourist town of Siem Reap, home to Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple complex, on Monday, the day after the election.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat described the scheduled meeting as a ''good starting point'' but said the chances of a breakthrough were slim ''because of the complexity of the issue''.
At the heart of the dispute is 1.8 square miles (4.6 square km) of scrubland near the temple, claimed by both countries but awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the International Court of Justice, a ruling that has rankled in Thailand ever since.
Analysts say Thai domestic politics are mainly to blame for the dispute, which flared up after Cambodia's successful bid to have the ruins listed as a World Heritage site.
Bangkok's initial support for the heritage listing was seized on by anti-government groups in their long-running attempt to unseat the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. His foreign minister resigned over the issue.
There have been no major incidents so far, but both sides have sent troops and artillery to dig in near the temple and nearby Thai border villages are braced for conflict.
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