Cambodia’s long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen met the head of main opposition party for the first time in years on Saturday in a bid to find a way out of a political stalemate over a disputed election.
The opposition says it would have won had the vote been fair and has vowed to stage a new wave of protests on Sunday and boycott parliament’s first session on Sept. 23 unless an independent committee investigates its claims of widespread voting irregularities. The government has rejected the demands.
Saturday’s meeting between Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy was called by King Norodom Sihamoni, and is being held at the Royal Palace in the capital, Phnom Penh.
Sam Rainsy’s party made major gains in the July vote, although the ruling party retained a majority of legislative seats. Official results ratified last weekend gave Hun Sen’s party 68 seats in the National Assembly and Rainsy’s 55.
As the post-election standoff has dragged on, hopes had risen that King Sihamoni could serve as a mediator, a role often played by his father. The late Norodom Sihanouk helped broker an end to civil war in 1991 and arrange power-sharing agreements after the 1993 and 2003 elections.
Sihamoni, who took over the throne in 2004, has so far taken a less active role. Hun Sen and Sam Rainsy both greeted Sihamoni at the capital’s airport on Wednesday upon his return from China but did not acknowledge each other.