Cambodian National Assembly ratifies additional constitution law

Cambodia's National Assembly ratified the additional constitution law of a "package vote" Thursday in order to elect the leaderships of assembly and government in a single vote.

It is the assembly's first session. Ninety six parliamentariansattending the session all raised their hands to support the additional constitution law.

Except three sick leave, all 96 parliamentarians from the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the royalist FUNCINPEC party attended the session, with the presence of some diplomats.

However, the opposition Sam Rainsy Party's 24 parliamentarians all boycotted the meeting, claiming the package vote violates the constitution and disrespects the king.

The approval of the additional law paved the way for the formation of the new government.

Cambodia experienced a 11-month political deadlock since the national election held on July 27, 2004. CPP won 73 seats out of the 123 National Assembly, while FUNCINPEC got 26 and the SRP 24.

The stalemate just ended last week after Prime Minister Hun Sen's CPP and Prince Norodom Ranariddh's FUNCINPEC reached a cooperation deal to form a coalition government.

Under the agreement, the two parties agreed to use package voteto elect the parliament and government leadership to ensure the normal functioning of the national institute.

Prince Ranariddh said Wednesday the meeting of National Assembly would not be affected by the boycott of the SRP, as thereare sufficient two-thirds majority of lawmakers from the two parties to open the session.

Analysts said here that the boycott by the SRP suggested the collapse of the Alliance of Democrats formed by the FUNCINPEC and the opposition SRP after the election in opposition to Hun Sen.

Source: Xinhua