Cambodia: Ruling Party Dominates New Parliament

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  Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni, right, greets with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, left, in front of the National Assembly in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, 24 Sept 2008. (Photo courtesy: AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: Cambodia's newly elected lower house of parliament held its inaugural session Wednesday (24 Sept) that saw the ruling party's already firm grasp on power grow even tighter in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.

Prime Minister Hun Sen's party now holds 90 of 123 seats, ensuring that the Cambodian People's Party will have a free hand in virtually all legislative matters.

"They have been ruling the country single-handedly, and they still are," said Ou Virak, director of the nonprofit Cambodian Center for Human Rights. "Their one-party rule is just more legitimate than before."

An election on 27 July election handed Hun Sen's party 17 seats beyond the 73 it already held, further cementing the CPP's majority.

Ou Virak and other rights activists say the virtual one-party system risks damaging the country's fragile democracy and giving unfettered power to Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge soldier who has dominated the country's politics for decades.

They say the ruling party's supremacy will weaken an already limited system of checks-and-balances and make it more difficult to voice dissent and air grievances about social injustices.

Hun Sen is a former soldier in the Khmer Rouge movement that wreaked havoc in Cambodia when it held power from 1975-1979. He has been at the center of the country's politics since 1985, when he became the world's youngest prime minister at age 33. He has held or shared the top job ever since, bullying and outfoxing his opponents to stay in power.

The parliament will vote Thursday ( 25 Sept) on a new Cabinet _ an exercise seen only as a formality given the domination of Hun Sen's party.

King Norodom Sihamoni presided over Wednesday's event at the Nation Assembly, and called for the lawmakers to "succeed in fulfilling your duties for the great benefit of our nation." Sihamoni is a constitutional monarch who holds no executive power.

The lawmakers were dressed in green silky wrapped skirts and white turtleneck, long-sleeved shirts _ the traditional Cambodian outfit used in functions attended by the king.

The Sam Rainsy Party, Cambodia's main opposition group, has 26 seats in the parliament. The other three smaller parties hold combined seven seats. (AP)