The government on December 26 canceled the position of "first deputy governor"

for all provinces and cities to streamline the administrative process, officials

told a Chinese news agency.

"From now on, we do not talk about quotas from parties in government positions,"

government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told the agency.

After Cambodia's most recent coalition government was established in 2004, CPP and

Funcipec shared power in provincial and municipal governments. The positions of governor

and first deputy governor were divided between the two parties. Documents could only

become valid after both governors signed them.