Sar Kheng urges efficient use of new $100K local budget
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has ordered commune officials to use next year’s increased annual budget of more than $100,000 “effectively, transparently and responsibly”, with local-level expenditure set to more than double from $50,000 a year. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sar-kheng-urges-efficient-use-new-100k-local-budget
KPP joins call to boycott but NEC, CPP brush off legitimacy concerns, hailing number of parties
Responding to the National Election Committee’s official announcement that 20 political parties will be on the ballot for the July 29 National elections, the CNRP and Khmer Power Party – both of which have former leaders in jail – claimed they wouldn’t recognise the poll ...
Districts to be handed primary schools’ reins
Beginning this year, the Education Ministry will hand over management of 625 primary schools, 4,874 teachers and over 170,000 students to 14 districts in Battambang as part of a new initiative to decentralise and improve primary education. The districts will also absorb the management of ...
Kong Meta and Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/districts-be-handed-primary-schools-reins
NEC considering CNRP proposal for more voters
The National Election Committee (NEC) confirmed during a press conference on Friday that it is considering a request from the opposition to extend voter registration through holidays, specifically Pchum Ben. ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28159/nec-considering-cnrp-proposal-for-more-voters/
UN helps ministries budget for climate change
As Cambodia continues its battle against raging thunderstorms and stifling droughts, officials from a variety of ministries attended a three-day workshop last week on how to incorporate the wide-ranging effects of climate change into the national and provincial budgeting process. ...
Jonathan Greig
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/25133/un-helps-ministries-budget-for-climate-change/
Absent MPs salaries to be cut
The National Assembly (NA) yesterday approved a proposal by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to punish politicians who are absent from parliamentary meetings without a “reasonable” explanation, the assembly spokesman said, after a boycott by the opposition. ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31325/absent-mps-salaries-to-be-cut/
Police sign cooperation deal with UK’s NCA
Cambodia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to combat crimes including child and sexual trafficking. ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35082/police-sign-cooperation-deal-with-uk---s-nca/
Amid strife, the CNRP is a party on pause
When Cambodia National Rescue Party President Kem Sokha stood arm-in-arm with three newly minted deputies earlier this year, the quartet seemed eager and ready to address the party’s next challenge at hand: critical commune elections that could greatly bolster grassroots support. ...
Mech Dara and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/amid-strife-cnrp-party-pause
Hun Sen says no need for international community to recognise elections
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday said he didn’t care whether the international community endorsed next year’s elections – the legitimacy of which critics have questioned amidst a crackdown on the opposition – raising concerns the Kingdom could find itself isolated if world powers decline ...
CPP rewriting rules again, with amendments planned to political laws to redistribute CNRP seats
The Cambodian People’s Party is rewriting the nation’s political laws yet again, this time to allow the Cambodia National Rescue Party’s 55 parliamentary seats to be dished out to minor parties – with royalist Funcinpec the main beneficiary in the sweep – in the event ...
Niem Chheng, Ananth Baliga and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cpp-rewriting-rules-again-amendments-planned-political-laws-redistribute-cnrp-seats
Tea Banh leads war of words
The Defence Minister has threatened to destroy Sam Rainsy’s Cambodia National Rescue Movement if it attempts to cause trouble in the country, while the Cambodian Nationality Party has called on people not to join the “illegal” group. General Tea Banh made the comments at the Defence ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50103931/tea-banh-leads-war-of-words/
National Assembly’s Finance Committee Approves 2014 Budget
The National Assembly’s CPP-run finance committee approved the country’s $3.54 billion draft budget for 2014 Wednesday, its last hurdle before debate and a possible vote can be held by the full Assembly, where the opposition is still refusing to take nearly half the seats. “After the ...
Kuch Naren and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/national-assemblys-finance-committee-approves-2014-budget-46714/
Eyes turn to legislation passed without CNRP
After months of decrying the one-party National Assembly as illegitimate and vowing to amend any flawed legislation passed during a parliamentary boycott, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, by agreeing to take its seats yesterday, is about to get its chance. In the roughly 10-month period since ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eyes-turn-legislation-passed-without-cnrp
CPP to debate draft judicial laws this month
The National Assembly has scheduled a plenary session on May 20 to discuss three controversial draft laws on judicial reform, a senior ruling party lawmaker confirmed Sunday. The parliamentary meeting will be the third plenary session since last year’s disputed National election, each of which have ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-to-debate-draft-judicial-laws-this-month-58487/
Sam Rainsy expresses disappointment after Mu Sochua, Yim Sovann fail in votes
Opposition party leader Sam Rainsy on Wednesday expressed disappointment after his two leading lawmakers failed in votes for the posts of chairpersons of the National Assembly’s eighth and tenth commissions. He said he would push for proper solution in accordance with July 22 agreement. “It is rights ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=NzZmZTE4NmFhOTc
Pailin’s ex-governor denies $400,000 corruption claim
Pailin province’s ex-governor and provincial council president Y Chhien yesterday denied corruption allegations against him, describing the claims as politically motivated. The two opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party members on the nine-seat provincial council accused Chhien in mid-October of misusing $400,000 in state funds and exploiting ...
Meas Sokchea
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/pailin%E2%80%99s-ex-governor-denies-400000-corruption-claim
Sar Kheng to be Natl Assembly majority leader
Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng has been appointed majority leader in the National Assembly, meaning he and opposition leader Sam Rainsy will engage directly in dialogue over legislative issues. Prime Minister Hun Sen and Cambodia National Rescue Party president Rainsy agreed in late ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sar-kheng-be-natl-assembly-majority-leader
Kem Sokha was unhappy with July 22 political deal
CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha said in a speech in the U.S. last week that he was unhappy with the opposition party’s decision to end its boycott of the National Assembly last year but was prepared to “swallow gravel and rocks” to maintain unity with ...
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kem-sokha-was-unhappy-with-july-22-political-deal-79855/
Assembly panel to accept NEC nominations beginning Friday
The National Assembly’s standing committee will meet on Friday to open nominations for members of the new National Election Committee (NEC) and then vote on its nine members on April 13, a spokesman said Wednesday. ...
Kuch Naren and Alex Willemyns
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/assembly-panel-to-accept-nec-nominations-beginning-friday-80747/
UN refugee agency joins search for Montagnards in Cambodia
A team from the United Nations refugee agency traveled to northeast Cambodia Wednesday to meet with 13 ethnic Montagnards seeking asylum in the country after fleeing alleged persecution in Vietnam, according to an agency spokesperson and a member of a local rights group. United Nations High ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/search-12032014184633.html