With Just One Party Present, King Convenes New Parliament
King Norodom Sihamoni presided over a nearly half-empty opening session of the National Assembly on Monday as all 55 elected lawmakers of the opposition CNRP followed through with their threat to boycott parliament to protest disputed results of July’s national election. … Analysts and election monitors also questioned the new Assembly’s legitimacy and feared more public unrest if CPP lawmakers press ahead with passing laws. … After handshakes and photos with King Sihamoni outside the National Assembly, the CPP lawmakers returned to the Assembly hall, where Heng Samrin, the Assembly’s last president and likely its next, read out the names of all 123 elected lawmakers, which included those absent from the CNRP. … The 68 CPP lawmakers then approved their new internal rules with a quick show of hands and agreed to return today to vote on the Assembly’s new leadership, the next prime minister and his cabinet. Earlier in the morning, King Sihamoni issued a Royal Decree nominating Prime Minister Hun Sen to resume his role and inviting him to form the next government. In a letter to the King obtained Monday, Mr. Hun Sen graciously accepted. In stark contrast to the pomp and ceremony occurring in the capital, the opposition CNRP put out a fiery statement from Siem Reap City dismissing the opening session as an illegitimate sham. “The opening of the first session of the National Assembly without the presence of the elected lawmakers from the CNRP is an act that violates the Constitution,” the party said. “The National Assembly formed today is a single party National Assembly that doesn’t represent the entire Khmer nation, meaning it violates democracy, freedom and pluralist principles and drives Cambodia once again to dictatorship.” … Political analysts and lawyers are split on whether the Assembly is a legitimate law-making body without the opposition’s 55 lawmakers. “You have two parties but only a single party goes ahead…. It does not follow the spirit of the Constitution,” [Committee for Free and Fair Elections executive director] Mr. [Koul] Panha said. “In terms of legitimacy it’s very controversial.” … “The National Assembly is the depository of the people’s power…. But at the moment the power deposited with the National Assembly is just 55 percent,” [political analyst] Mr. [Lao] Mong Hay said, referring to the CPP’s share of the 123 seats. Any laws the Assembly goes on to pass, he added, may be “legal but not legitimate.” … Independent analyst Kem Ley called the new Assembly “illegal completely” and also foresaw more unrest unless the CPP and CNRP settled their differences before the Assembly started passing laws. …
Zsombor Peter and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/with-just-one-party-present-king-convenes-new-parliament-43033/
