Bloody Campaign

CAMBODIA'S ELECTION IS NOT SCHEDULED TO BEGIN until May 23, but Khmer Rouge guerrillas are already casting their votes with bullets instead of ballots. Determined to scuttle the election or greatly reduce the turnout, the rebels killed more than 20 people in assaults on several Cambodian cities and brazen raids against units of the 20,000-member U.N. peacekeeping force. On Monday guerrillas wounded five Indian soldiers in Kampong Cham province and temporarily seized the airport in the city of Siemreab, home of the famed Angkor temple complex. Later in the week a Japanese policeman was killed and an additional eight Japanese and Dutch peacekeepers were wounded in a rocket attack in the province of Banteay Meanchay. The Khmer Rouge apparently even turned on their former main ally, China, by shelling a U.N. compound housing 200 Chinese peacekeepers.

The tumult has increased fears for the safety of U.N. personnel; 50 volunteer election supervisors outside Phnom Penh have left their posts, adding to doubts that the U.N. force will be able to supervise the election throughout the countryside. Even if balloting takes place, the results of an election conducted under such conditions will be highly suspect.