Prince Norodom Sihamoni was named Cambodia's new king yesterday, succeeding his father, Norodom Sihanouk, who stunned the country last week by announcing his abdication because of ill health.
Sihamoni, a former ballet dancer and cultural ambassador, was approved by a nine-member Throne Council, the panel said in a statement signed by its chairman and acting head of state Chea Sim.
The statement did not say how many council members voted for the prince, but two palace officials said on condition of anonymity that the vote was unanimous.
The Throne Council "has chosen Samdech [honorary title] Norodom Sihamoni as the king of the Kingdom of Cambodia,'' said the statement, issued after the panel had met for about half an hour.
Sihamoni is currently with Sihanouk in Beijing, where the monarch has been receiving medical treatment, and is expected to return to Cambodia with his father next Wednesday.
A low key coronation ceremony is planned for Oct. 29, according to Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Sihamoni's half brother and head of the National Assembly.
Sihanouk had said "we should save the nation's money" rather than splash out on an elaborate ceremony, Ranariddh said.
Ranariddh, deep into politics like most of Sihanouk's other children who survived the Khmer Rouge's "Killing Fields," helped to persuade the reluctant Sihamoni to succeed to the throne.
Sihanouk has said Sihamoni, who has spent much of his life outside Cambodia, would be his ideal successor because he was not involved in politics.
Sihamoni, 51, has been an ambassador to the UN cultural agency UNESCO in Paris, and is the king's only surviving son by his Eurasian wife, Queen Monineath.
Cambodia's monarchy is not hereditary and the king does not pick his successor, but Sihanouk, 81, made it clear he wanted Sihamoni to be king even though his son previously had shown no interest in the throne.
The throne council had been unlikely to go against his wishes although it had no legal obligation to follow them.
Key political leaders -- including Ranariddh and Prime Minister Hun Sen -- had endorsed the choice. Influential Buddhist leaders had also expressed support for Sihamoni.
Sihanouk announced last week that he was abdicating because of ill health. He said afterward that if he were to die on the thrown, it could create "turmoil that would be mortal for the Khmer monarchy and, above all, catastrophic for Cambodia and its people, who don't deserve a new major misfortune."
Sihamoni has none of the vast experience of his father. However, diplomats said the polyglot bachelor, who has never held political office, might not be the pushover many expect.
"He's very much an unknown quantity, but he's certainly no fool," said one Western diplomat who met Sihamoni at UNESCO.
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