Phnom Penh - Cambodia's estimated 8 million voters headed to the polls Sunday for the first national elections in five years.

The National Election Committee says the elections are the most peaceful and least violent since democratic polls recommenced after the Khmer Rouge era in 1993.

A tense border stand-off with Thailand which has seen troops mobilized is not expected to unduly influence the outcome, although analysts predicted it may increase voter turnout. Voting is not compulsory in Cambodia.

Phnom Penh - Cambodian troops on the border with Thailand had been prohibited alcohol during a border dispute surrounding an 11th century temple, officials and local media said Saturday.

Officials said alcohol had been banned at the Preah Vihear temple, around 300 kilometres north of the capital, for nearly a week, but that ban would stay in place until tensions ease.

A national ban on alcohol is in place over the weekend owing to national elections, but officials said that had nothing to do with the temple ban and that the temple ban was indefinite.

Phnom Penh - Threats, intimidation and unequal media access had hurt the Cambodian opposition, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a press release Saturday, a day before national elections.

"The near-monopoly on broadcast media for the ruling Cambodian People's Party's (CPP), bias within the electoral apparatus, and harassment, intimidation, and coerced defections of opposition party members undermines the credibility of the elections," it said.

Phnom Penh - Cambodian sex workers prayed for divine intervention at the ancient temple of Angkor Wat to draw attention to their objections to new laws they said equate sex work with trafficking, local media reported Friday.

The English-language Mekong Times daily pictured a group of more than 20 sex workers brandishing Barbie dolls and lotuses in prayer at the temple in Siem Reap province, more than 300 kilometres north-west of Phnom Penh.

The group chose Angkor, the largest religious monument in the world, "because we want the spirit of our ancestors ... to make our leaders and local and foreign tourists listen to our voices," the paper quoted Soo Sitheavy, one of the organizers, as saying.

Phnom Penh - Spectacular rallies by the main Cambodian political parties Friday marked the last official day of campaigning ahead of the weekend's national elections.

The National Election Committee has declared a media backout on politics from Friday night until the polls close at 3 pm Sunday. Cambodians have all day Sunday to vote for 123 seats across the country after a month of official campaigning.

Hundreds of floats waving flags and playing party slogans from loudspeakers held up traffic in the capital as the 11 competing parties made the most of their last chance to get their message across to an estimated 8 million voters.

Phnom Penh - The Thai embassy in Cambodia called Thai nationals for a meeting Thursday to advise on options in case they require evacuation after upcoming national elections, a Thai business representative and Cambodian officials said.

A representative from the Thai Business Association of Cambodia who declined to be named said the Thai embassy had called a meeting Thursday in Phnom Penh to discuss emergency options for Thai citizens in case of problems after national elections scheduled for Sunday.

However, she said most Thai businesses were so far not affected by cross-border tensions and continued business as usual. Cambodian government officials said they were aware of the meeting and stressed it was routine consular protocol.