In September 1966, general elections were held, and Sangkum legislators with conservative and right-wing sympathies dominated the national assembly. In turn, they nominated Lon Nol, a military general who shared their political sympathies, as prime minister. However, their choice did not sit well with Sihanouk. To counterbalance conservative and right-wing influence, in October 1966 Sihanouk set up a shadow government made up of Sangkum legislators with left-wing sympathies. At the end of the month, Lon Nol offered to resign from his position, but was ironically stopped from doing so by Sihanouk. In April 1967, the Samlaut Uprising occurred, with local peasants fighting against government troops in Samlaut, Battambang. As soon as government troops managed to quell the fighting, Sihanouk began to suspect that three left-wing Sangkum legislatorsKhieu Samphan, Hou Yuon and Hu Nimhad incited the rebellion. When Sihanouk threatened to charge Khieu Samphan and Hou Yuon before a military tribunal, they fled into the jungle to join the Khmer Rouge, leaving Hu Nim behind.