CNRP Wants Presidency of Assembly Before Taking Seats

With the ruling CPP having voted in its National Assembly leadership and government ministers on Tuesday, officials from the CNRP said opposition lawmakers would not take their seats in parliament unless the party is guaranteed control over the National Assembly. “I think that the two-day meeting was the last chance for the CPP to accept our proposal, but they ignored it. I heard that [now they are asking] us to swear in as members before the new talks can begin, but that is not acceptable,” CNRP chief whip Son Chhay said Tuesday, adding that he doubted the two parties would return to the negotiating table. … Speaking to reporters following Tuesday’s vote for positions in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Hun Sen said that the CNRP’s demands that it be given the presidency of the National Assembly were unprecedented in parliamentary systems. … “[The CNRP’s] demand was to be president of the National Assembly…. We offered the positions of chairman of four committees and vice chairman of five committees,” he [Hun Sen] said, adding that calls by the CNRP for an independent investigation into election irregularities had been taken off the table by the second day of talks. “We still maintain our stance and our offer, but it’s a bit difficult. I will offer [National Assembly committee leadership positions], but it has to be undertaken by vote,” Mr. Hun Sen said. Despite Mr. Hun Sen’s claim to the opposite, the minor party taking the presidency of the National Assembly has precedent. In July 2004, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, whose Funcinpec party was handily defeated by the CPP at the polls more than eleven months earlier, was given the position as president of the National Assembly after agreeing to join in a coalition government with Mr. Hun Sen. …

 Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/cnrp-wants-presidency-of-assembly-before-taking-seats-43141/