Cambodia's fifth National Assembly on October 10 convened its firstplenary session to elect members for the body's nine committees, whilethe Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) continues to boycott theparliament over July's disputed election.

Under thechair of NA Chairman Heng Samrin, 68 lawmakers of the ruling CambodianPeople’s Party (CPP) elected the members of the committees. PrimeMinister Hun Sen was absent from the session as he was participating inthe 23 rd ASEAN Summit in Brunei.

After the session, the Cambodian NA will operate as the country’s supreme legislative body .

All seats in the leadership board of the NA and its nine committees are now held by CPP lawmakers.

Talking to the media, Heng Samrin said that the CNRP’s boycott of theNA doesn’t affect the body’s operations. However, he called on theparty’s lawmakers to change their stance and participate in NA sessionsfor the interest of the country.

The leadership change will be put on the table only when the two parties reach a political consensus, he added.

Meanwhile, CNRP lawmaker Ho Vann said that his party would continue toboycott the parliament until there was an appropriate solution to thepolitical crisis.

He said the CNRP plans to organisea three-day mass protest, starting on October 23 in Phnom Penh in orderto seek the intervention of the United Nations in the dispute.

The National Election Committee recently released the final results ofthe July 28 election, confirming that the CPP won 68 seats while theCNRP took the remaining 55 seats.

The CNRP rejected the results and was demanding the establishment of an independent probe committee.-VNA