Cambodia King Norodom Sihanouk on Wednesday officially appointed Hun Sen as the 3rd mandate government's new prime minister.

"The Premier has the duty to appoint the cabinet members that will be approved by the National Assembly," King Sihanouk said in his royal decree.

The new government will be a coalition, led by Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and Prince Norodom Ranariddh's royalist FUNCINPEC party.

Cambodia is undergoing a political deadlock since the national election held on July 27, 2003. CPP won 73 seats of the 123-member National Assembly, while FUNCINPEC got 26 seats and the SRP 24, but none of them holds the two-thirds majority required by the constitution to govern alone.

The stalemate ended after CPP and FUNCINPEC reached a cooperation deal to form a coalition government.

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

The additional constitutional law of package vote was ratified by the National Assembly and the Senate separately, as well as was finally signed off by acting Head of State Nhiek Bun Chhay, second deputy vice president of the Senate. It was said that Senate President Chea Sim was absence for medical treatment in Thailand.

After Wednesday's appointment, the parliament is expected to meet on Thursday as scheduled to reelect Hun Sen as the premier and Prince Ranariddh as the president of the National Assembly in a package vote with the show of hands.