Updated

An envoy of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in Cambodia for talks on regional issues and bilateral cooperation, also touching on the July election that critics say will be neither free nor fair.

Kentaro Sonoura is scheduled to hold talks Friday with Prime Minister Hun Sen, the long-serving autocratic leader whose government recently dissolved the main opposition party in a serious blow to democracy.

A Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman says Sonoura told Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn of Tokyo's desire to see a free and fair election.

The spokesman says Sonoura expressed no wish to interfere in Cambodia's internal affairs while he wants to see Cambodia have a good relationship with the entire international community.