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Cambodia's King Sihanouk abdicates over health, politics

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk has abdicated because of poor health and asked the country to begin a search for a successor, the head of the National Assembly said yesterday.

The king, 81, made the announcement in a letter from Beijing. The note was read to the National Assembly early yesterday by his son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who is also head of the legislature.

"According to the statement that I have received and just read, his majesty has already abdicated," he told reporters, adding that the news "is very regrettable and shocking for all Cambodians who love him and regard him as sacred."

Ranariddh said leaders of the country's ruling coalition planned "to beg" the king to stay on as monarch, and that he would join Prime Minister Hun Sen, acting head of state, and leader of the ruling party, Chea Sim, in seeking permission to visit Sihanouk in Beijing.

Sihanouk had been scheduled to return home Thursday, Ranariddh said.

Hun Sen has departed for Vietnam to attend a summit.

Cambodia's monarch is not selected according to heredity, but the candidate must have a royal bloodline. Ranariddh has been considered a candidate for the throne in the past, but has said he is not interested.

Sihanouk has been an influential figure in Cambodian politics for more than half a century, leading the country to independence from French colonialism in the 1950s.
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