News

The Constitutional Council yesterday hit out at those who criticise constitutional amendments and interpretation without checking the facts. ... ...

After paying a courtesy call on the King and visiting the chairman of the Constitutional Council, caretaker prime minister Hun Sen on Wednesday rescheduled the date on which a new National Assembly will be formed. The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) president also directed his ire ...

The Constitutional Council is planning to meet later this week to discuss amendments to the Constitution, including changes to an article guaranteeing the right for citizens to form organisations and political parties. ... ...

The Constitutional Council is planning to meet later this week to discuss amendments to the Constitution, including changes to an article guaranteeing the right for citizens to form organisations and political parties. The document, a letter of invitation to local media, outlines an agenda for the ...

The Constitutional Council yesterday approved four sets of controversial amendments to Cambodia’s election laws, greenlighting changes that will pave the way for the main opposition party’s parliamentary seats to be redistributed in the event of its dissolution. ... ...

Senior government officials yesterday gathered to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the adoption of the Kingdom’s Constitution, lavishing praise on the Constitutional Council – while simultaneously appearing to threaten legal action against those who question the body’s independence or decisions. ... ...

With King Norodom Sihamoni out of the country, Senate President and CPP stalwart Say Chhum is set to sign off on controversial new changes to the Law on Political Parties, the last step in what some are calling the final, fatal blow to Cambodia’s democracy. ...

The National Assembly (NA) has passed amendments to electoral laws which could be used to remove political parties. The controversial amendments were carried with the votes of 66 members from the ruling CPP after opposition CNRP members boycotted the session. The ammendments could affect the way ...

The Constitutional Council of Cambodia will today start hearing claims from the opposition CNRP that more than 2,400 non-citizens were recently added to the country’s voter rolls, days after the government’s National Election Committee threw out the same complaints. ... ...

Three newcomers officially took up their positions at the Constitutional Council yesterday, the body announced. Im Chhun Lim, former minister of land management, officially began his tenure as head of the council after being appointed by the Supreme Council of Magistracy and voted chief by ...

Outgoing minister of land management Im Chhun Lim and former Ministry of Tourism secretary of state Sam Prumnea are set to join the Constitutional Council. ... ...

Three widely condemned laws concerning the operation of the Kingdom’s judiciary were officially signed into effect by King Norodom Sihamoni last month, according to recent copies of the Royal Book. ... ...

International legal experts are expressing deep concern over proposed changes to Cambodia’s legal system that critics say hand over too much power to the executive.  At a meeting in Phnom Penh Tuesday, a group recommended the three judicial reform laws should be returned to parliament ...

A group of civil society organizations will petition King Norodom Sihamoni today, calling on the king to withhold his signature from three judicial laws that they say will entrench the ruling CPP’s control of the courts and jeopardize citizens’ constitutional freedoms. Despite concern raised by local ...

Cambodia’s Constitutional Council has approved three controversial draft laws on judicial reform, despite heavy opposition from rights groups and international observers who say they will not restore the public’s faith in the courts. Critics say the laws—passed without opposition members in the National Assembly—put too much ...

Cambodia’s human rights groups are continuing to seek ways to prevent three draft judicial reform bills from becoming law. The drafts have already passed the National Assembly, but they have not been signed by the king. ... ...

Surya Subedi, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, added his voice yesterday to the growing chorus of criticism aimed at three draft laws on Cambodia’s judiciary that sailed through the National Assembly last week. Subedi – who had previously championed the laws as ...

The Royal Palace yesterday said the letter sent by opposition leader Sam Rainsy to King Norodom Sihamoni last week that elicited a furious response from the government for “insulting” the King, did not, in fact, disrespect the monarch’s “honour and name”. A statement signed by the ...

Cambodia rejected a report of the US State Department, which attacked the government of Prime Minister Hen Sen for widespread abuse against human rights. The 31-page report highlighted a flawed and poorly managed electoral process in July’s general election process. The report raised a number of ...

The atmosphere in Phnom Penh 20 years ago today was one of jubilation and optimism as then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk signed Cambodia’s new Consti­tution into law and reclaimed the throne as King. The promulgation of the Constitution—which marked the end of the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia’s ...