Three Parties Maintain Government Boycott
Ruling party officials said Friday they would push the formation of a government with a swearing-in later this month, despite continued
The newly elected members of three parties in opposition to the ruling coalition willnot swear in later this month, preventing the formation of theNational Assembly and retaining a deadlock in the new government, leaders said Friday. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who held a press conferencewith the leaders of the Human Rights and Norodom Ranariddh parties at his Phnom Penh headquartersFriday, continued to contest the results of last month's national election. Lawmakers of the three parties will not swear in on Aug. 24, he told reporters. The three parties together represent an estimated 31 parliamentary seats, with the CPP holding 90 and its partner, Funcinpec, holding two. "The first meeting on the 24 cannothappen, because we refuse the election results," Sam Rainsy said. "My party's stance is the same as the Sam Rainsy andNorodom Ranariddh parties," Keat Sokhun, vice president of the HumanRights Party, said. "We will not go to the meeting if there is nosolution to complaints from people who could not vote." NRP spokesman Muth Chantha said the "boycott" of the meeting did not mean the parties hadabandoned their seats. "What we want is for the National Election Committee torespect the will of the people who could not vote, about 1 million [ofthem]," he said. The vow to deadlock the government came as the rulingCambodian People's Party swore to push toward establishing the government byAug. 26. "The government will be set up on Aug. 26, after theNational Assembly opens its first full session on Aug. 24," CPP spokesmanKhieu Kanharith told reporters Friday. "The new cabinet will be biggerthan the last cabinet." CPP officials maintain they can establish a governmentwithout swearing in all newly elected members, a claim disputed byconstitutional and election law experts.