Author: Himalaya Post

PHNOM PENH – The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen won a sweeping victory in the July 29 general election, according to provisional results released on Saturday. Twenty political parties contested in the election.The National Election Committee (NEC) provisional results indicated that the CPP received 4.88 million votes, or 76.84 percent, of the total valid votes. The Funcinpec Party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh got 374,610 votes, or 5.88 percent, the League for Democracy Party of former opposition lawmaker Khem Veasna earned 309,364 votes, or 4.86 percent, and the Khmer Will Party of former opposition member Kong Monika received 212,669 votes, or 3.34 percent. NEC said the official results with the allocation of seats in the parliament will be announced on Aug. 15. Based on the NEC results, the CPP had calculated that it had won all 125 seats in the parliament.Hun Sen, 67, who has been in power for 33 years, will continue to lead the government for another five years through the victory. He said earlier this week that a new parliament will be formed on Sept. 5; then, the new parliament will vote for the formation of a new government on...

ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (AFP) – Pakistan’s World Cup cricket hero Imran Khan will be sworn in as prime minister next week, his party said Friday, announcing it has the numbers to form a coalition government in the nuclear-armed nation. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said the entire squad that Khan captained to victory in the 1992 World Cup were invited to the ceremony, as well as Indian cricket greats Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Navjot Singh Sidhu. PTI emerged victorious in the July 25 elections, the country’s second-ever democratic transition of power, but fell short of an outright majority. The party confirmed Friday that it has secured the numbers for a majority in the lower house of parliament.”In a historic moment, Imran Khan will take the oath (as prime minister) on August 18,” Faisal Javed Khan, a PTI senator and Khan’s close aide, said in televised comments in Islamabad. Pakistan’s President Mamnoon Hussain has called a session of the new National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, starting August 13.Earlier, India’s high commissioner in Pakistan Ajay Bisaria called on Khan and congratulated him on his victory. “Discussed the need to restart dialogue between Pak & India on all outstanding issues including Kashmir,” Khan’s spokeswoman Anila Khawaja told AFP after the meeting. The Indian high commission tweeted that Bisaria had gifted Khan a cricket bat autographed by the entire Indian...