PHNOM PENH, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) will hold a congress on March 2 to choose its new president after the self-exiled incumbent, Sam Rainsy resigned two weeks ago, said the party's statement on Friday.
The congress will "select the party's president and vice president(s)," said the statement, which was released after the party's permanent committee meeting.
It added that the congress will be held at the party's headquarters on the southern outskirts of Phnom Penh.
Currently, CNRP's vice president Kem Sokha is holding the position of the party's acting president after Sam Rainsy resigned on Feb. 11.
Rainsy, 68, who has lived in self-exile in France since November 2015 to avoid a seven-year imprisonment for defamation and incitement cases, step down as the party's president after Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen proposed the National Assembly to amend the Law on Political Parties to ban convicts from serving as president of a party.
Earlier this week, the prime minister's ruling party-controlled National Assembly amended the legislation which bars convicted politicians from leading a political party and empowers the Supreme Court to dissolve any political party over the conviction of a party top official.
Cambodia is gearing up for the commune election in June 2017 and the national election in July 2018. The opposition CNRP has been seen as a main rival for the prime minister's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP).
