The rally on Friday was remarkable. A Mardi Gras atmosphere filled the air, and the CNRP supporters did a victory lap around Wat Phnom and kept going. Traffic stopped dead and people poured into the streets — including monks. Old men told me what they really thought about Hun Sen, speaking with remarkable frankness.

All is not sunshine. The CNRP’s rhetoric focuses increasingly on racial hatred of the Vietnamese and those of Vietnamese ethnicity within Cambodia. Meanwhile, allegations of extreme voter oversubscription and less-than-indelible ink run rife.

Polling opens here in Phnom Penh at 7:00 AM.

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