Cambodia Parliament Endorses Rainsy As Minority Leader

Cambodia's National Assembly voted Friday to make longtime opposition figure Sam Rainsy the parliamentary minority leader, a key step in negotiations between the country's two major political parties over the results of last year's disputed national election.



The creation of a new "minority leader" position for the opposition was agreed upon in a November meeting between Sam Rainsy and the country's long-ruling prime minister, Hun Sen.



For months, the two sides have been negotiating the finer points of a truce struck in July to end a yearlong boycott of the National Assembly by the Cambodia National Rescue Party, the opposition party led by Sam Rainsy.



Although the new title would give Sam Rainsy a rank equal to prime minister within the National Assembly, it would essentially be symbolic without giving him any decision-making power, Hun Sen said in a nationally televised speech earlier this month.



But upon accepting the new title at the parliamentary session Friday, Sam Rainsy told parliamentarians that the vote was "vitally important in terms of strengthening democracy in Cambodia."



Speaking to reporters after the session, he said one of his first orders of business as minority leader would be to discuss with Hun Sen the issue of 17 activists and opposition officials who were arrested and summarily jailed in September in connection with their involvement in street protests.



"From now on, the political parties with minority voices in the National Assembly can talk with the prime minister over matters of national importance," he said.



After the disputed national elections in July 2013, the opposition boycotted parliament for a year, staging some of the country's largest-ever street protests in an effort to force a revote or make Hun Sen step down.



Ultimately, however, the party negotiated a settlement with the ruling party on July 22 that saw the lawmakers take their seats in exchange for several more minor concessions, including a reformed national election body, an opposition television station and more power within parliament.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Phnum Penh