Parliamentary activities will be suspended today as the government prepares a cremation ceremony for the late ruling Cambodian People’s Party president Chea Sim, who died yesterday afternoon, aged 82.

“The National Assembly schedule for further debate on any draft laws has been cancelled for [today],” said a statement issued yesterday by the Senate, which Sim used to preside over.

Long Dimanche, spokesman for Phnom Penh Municipality, said that Sim’s body would be cremated at Wat Botum in Daun Penh district.

No date had yet been set for the ceremony, he added.

“It depends on the leaders of the [ruling Cambodian People’s Party] and his family,” he added.

Sim died at 3:45pm yesterday and within about half an hour several senior officials had turned up to pay their respects, including Palace Minister Kong Samol and Interior Minister Sar Kheng, who is Sim’s brother-in-law.

Sim’s death has paved the way for Prime Minister Hun Sen to formally become CPP party chairman, a position he announced he intended to assume in April.