Cambodian Polls Close After a Heavy Turnout : Democracy: The United Nations is exultant at six-day election but warns that it expects all parties to honor the results.

Polls closed Friday after a dramatically heavy turnout in six days of voting for a new Cambodian government, with the United Nations warning that it expects all the parties to honor a promise to accept the results.

A U.N. spokesman said that about 90% of the country’s 4.6 million registered voters had gone to the polls since voting started Sunday. Vote counting will start today and is expected to be finished next week.

Voting in their first free elections in decades, Cambodians chose a new Constituent Assembly that under an October, 1991, peace agreement will have three months to write a new constitution and form a government.

“We bet on the Cambodian people,” U.N. spokesman Eric Falt said. “In return, they gave us their trust, and tonight with almost 90% participation, we can safely say we won our bet.”

The turnout was especially impressive given the primitive conditions in the countryside and a threat by Maoist Khmer Rouge guerrillas to disrupt the elections, which never effectively materialized. There was only sporadic violence around the country, postponing polling in some locations but not seriously curtailing it.

Only one member of the 22,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force, a soldier from Bangladesh, was injured.

Because of lack of opinion polls and a U.N. ban on questioning of voters by reporters, there was a true sense of mystery about the outcome as counting was about to start. Yasushi Akashi, head of the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia, quipped, “I think we can take some pride in this suspense we’ve created.”

In the absence of official returns, rumors have begun circulating that the opposition royalist party known as FUNCINPEC had done so well against the Phnom Penh administration’s Cambodia People’s Party that the government might not hand over power.

In an apparent effort to confront such concerns, the U.N. spokesman issued a statement Friday night saying: “Before the campaign started, UNTAC indicated unambiguously to all the parties that their participation in the election meant that they committed themselves in advance to accepting the results. We expect they will honor this promise.”

A senior U.N. official said that while there are concerns about the government’s willingness to surrender power, there is little the United Nations can do to enforce the results beyond a threat of sanctions from the Security Council.

Premier Hun Sen gave a public assurance last week that his party would hand over power if it lost. But there are fears that other officials in the government, especially among the military and security forces, could act independently.

Once the new Constituent Assembly meets, it must draft a new constitution that is acceptable, under the peace agreement, to a two-thirds majority.

Because the Phnom Penh administration is widely expected to win at least 35% of the vote, this would give it blocking power in the legislature. It is not clear how such a deadlock would be resolved.

Among questions facing the legislature are what powers to give a president under the new constitution. Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the country’s revered monarch and the nominal chief of state, is expected to win the job unopposed, but whether he will then rule as a U.S.-style president or as just a ceremonial leader is unclear.

Another problem is whether to set up a second chamber of Parliament that would allow for appointed members. Many politicians consider this approach a possible way to include the Khmer Rouge, which boycotted the polls and will have no representatives in the Assembly.

The idea would be to give the Khmer Rouge a limited role in government in an effort to prevent a resumption of civil war in the country.

Under the peace plan, the four factions that signed the agreement will be left in charge of the areas under their control until a new government takes office.