Elections to choose leaders of Cambodia’s 1,600 communes, or clusters of villages, are scheduled for Feb. 3, and even before official campaigning began three women candidates from two opposition parties were killed, raising fears of widespread pre-election violence. Government officials claimed that it was still uncertain whether the killings were political, but human rights groups and the U.N. believe that they were. Travel in Cambodia before and during the elections should be undertaken with caution.
