Cambodian parties set to vote on parliamentary positions

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which has 55 seats in the 123-seat body, said Monday that they had still not decided on who they will put forward as vice president to the ruling Cambodian People's Party long-time parliamentary leaderHeng Samrin. Long-time adversaries of the ruling party, the CNRP were only sworn into parliament in July after boycotting their seats for a year in protest of what they claim was a rigged ballot in the July 2013 elections. Opposition spokesman Yim Sovann told AA that "there's no official decision yet" on which opposition MP will be vice president and which others will be placed in charge of the five parliamentary commissions that will be under their control. While some critics had expressed concern over the opposition joining the legislative body after months of holding out and calling for fresh elections, Sovann said there had never been any doubt that opposition MPs would get these positions. "This is the will of the people. The agreement was signed on July 22," he said. The opposition had agreed to take their seats in exchange for these positions and a total revamp of the country's National Electoral Committee.

While the CNRP had originally called for long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen - who has been in power for 28 years - to step down, they more recently only demanded reform of the National Election Committee - believed to be stacked with ruling party cronies.

Under the new agreement, the nine-member body will be composed of four opposition members, four ruling party members, and one independent - tipped to be Pung Chhiv Kek of local rights group Licadho.

During the months of boycott the party frequently during which police shootings killed seven people.

During the last year, the opposition has staged largely peaceful demonstrations insisting that a re-vote be held.

The government has been accused of using unnecessary force to clamp down on the largely peaceful protests which saw police open fire several times - resulting in seven deaths.