Long-running talks between Cambodia's would-be coalition parties sputtered into action again yesterday after a two-week hiatus but failed to move any closer to resolving differences, party officials said.
Cambodia remains without a government 11 months after national elections despite a tentative March agreement between the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and royalist FUNCINPEC party to revive their coalition.
Prime Minister Hun Sen's CPP won the polls last July but failed to secure enough seats to govern alone, forcing it to find a coalition partner.
The tortuously slow negotiations made a breakthrough early this month when the parties finally agreed on a joint political platform, but since then have foundered on dividing government posts.
"The CPP's stance remains the same; [we want] a 60-40 split," CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith told reporters, adding that the issue of controlling ministries was not discussed at the talks yesterday.
FUNCINPEC spokesman Kassie Neou said meanwhile that his party would not budge on its demand for half of all posts.
"The two parties remain very far from each other," he said.
The parties did agree yesterday to hold a "package vote" among MPs to elect Hun Sen back to his position and royalist chief Prince Norodom Ranariddh as national assembly president in one vote, as well as other procedural issues, Khieu Kanharith said.
Cambodia's national assembly has not met for more than a year, holding up important legislation including bills to allow a Khmer Rouge tribunal to begin and the kingdom to accede to the WTO.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was