King, Again, Asks Opposition Lawmakers To Attend First NA Session

Cambodia (Kohker) - His Majesty Norodom Sihamoni, King of Cambodia, has appealed once again to all 55 elected lawmakers of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) to attend the first session of the National Assembly to be held on September 23, 2013.

"I have already received Your Excellencies' letter dated September 14, 2013, informing me issues related to the opening of the first session of the National Assembly for the fifth legislature," the King wrote in a letter dated September 18, 2013.

"According to Article 82 of the Constitution, I would like to inform Your Excellencies that, I will preside over the first session of the National Assembly for the fifth legislature on September 23, 2013 as being stated in the royal invitations to the session dated September 14, 2013. I would like to ask Your Excellencies to attend the first session of the National Assembly to show unification and national unity," he said in the letter.

At the closing of their 3-day mass demonstration at Phnom Penh's Freedom Park Tuesday evening, CNRP leaders told their supporters that their elected lawmakers would not join the first session of the National Assembly unless there is proper solution to the election disputes.

At the end of the third meeting on Tuesday, representatives of the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the opposition CNRP said they were stepping closer to finding common solution to the post-election political deadlock.