Cambodia's Buddhist monks urge King to delay new parliament opening

Cambodia's more than 100 Buddhist monks on Thursday afternoon called on the nation's King Norodom Sihamoni to postpone the opening session of new parliament scheduled next Monday. The pro-opposition monks were stopped at a police barricade near the Royal Palace as they marched to the Royal Palace. "His Majesty should delay the opening session of the National Assembly as political dispute over the election results has not been resolved," Buddhist monk Yin Rattanak Sotheavy told Xinhua at the event. The country held a general election on July 28. The official results showed that the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen won 68 out of the 123 parliamentary seats, and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) of Sam Rainsy got 55 seats. But the CNRP rejected the results, claiming serious vote fraud. The King on Wednesday called on the opposition party's elected lawmakers to attend the opening session of the parliament on Sept. 23 in order to show national unity, but Sam Rainsy has said that the CNRP would not attend the session if there was no appropriate solution to the alleged poll irregularities. He also warned to call another mass protest before the session. Prime Minister Hun Sen and Sam Rainsy held talks on Monday and Tuesday, aiming at finding a way to break through the political impasse but reached no any remarkable agreement. Hun Sen has said that his party has enough lawmakers to override any opposition parliamentary boycott and form a new government.