FUNCINPEC boycotts cabinet meeting

FUNCINPEC boycotts cabinet meeting

CAMBODIA: Royalist FUNCINPEC politicians put on a show of unity on Friday and boycotted Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's first cabinet meeting called to establish a new government after the July 27 polls.

Dissent within the ranks persisted behind the scenes, however, with FUNCINPEC divided into three factions in a situation described by one senior party member as "anarchy."

Hun Sen told his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) that the government which existed before the poll had the constitutional right to manage the interim administration until a new regime is put in place.

Hun Sen's party had planned to carry that coalition into the next government but FUNCINPEC has baulked. Party boss Prince Norodom Ranariddh refuses to accept the results and has ordered his ministers to boycott the government. --AFP