PHNOM PENH, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Ten out of the 12 political parties applying to join the parliamentary election of Cambodia on July 27 have won approval from the National Election Committee (NEC), English-Khmer language newspaper the Mekong Times said Tuesday.

    The approved ones included the major ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), the co-ruling Funcinpec Party, the royalist Norodom Ranariddh Party, as well as the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and Human Rights Party, NEC was quoted as saying.

    Out of the two disapproved parties, one was asked to submit more documents and the other one was denied, it added.

    The approved number is a 50 percent strong decrease over the previous general election in 2003, when 23 political parties vied with each other for the 123 seats in the Cambodian National Assembly.

    In that year, CPP led by Prime Minister Hun Sen won 73 seats, Funcinpec 26 seats, and SRP 24 seats.