Senior officials of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the opposite Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) met on August 9 to discuss the establishment of a joint committee to solve issues arising after the July 28 national election.

This move showed the concerned parties’ efforts in defusing political instability threats after the fifth parliamentary election.

However, the two parties have not reached consensus on the representative role of the United Nations (UN) in the joint committee, Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng told reporters.

The meeting took place one day after Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni called on the two parties to seek a peaceful solution to issues emerging after the poll’s results were announced.

Earlier, CNRP had declared its refusal to partake in a joint working group that was set up by the National Election Committee (NEC) on August 3 to investigate the alleged irregularities and requested for an independent commission where the UN plays a coordinating role.

According to the initial results of the fifth general election on July 28, the ruling CPP gained the victory with 68 parliamentary seats and the opposition CNRP got the remaining 55 seats.

The CNRP accused that many violations took place during the election and threatened to organise protests across the country if its accusations were not resolved satisfactorily.

After all complaints are cleared, the official results of the election would be announced by NEC in-between August 14- September 8.-VNA