Petitions piling up for King
Pressure on King Norodom Sihamoni to delay today’s planned opening of the National Assembly ratcheted up a few notches over the weekend as the Royal Palace received two rounds of petitions allegedly representing close to 500,000 citizens requesting more time for party negotiations. The Cambodia National Rescue Party’s 55 elected lawmakers have pledged to boycott today’s ceremony, while the King has maintained he must open the assembly due to constitutional provisions. Yesterday, about 300 people from 10 civil society groups gathered in front of police barricades at Sisowath Quay blocking the way to the Royal Palace. Both police and the crowd remained calm, and representatives from four associations were eventually allowed past the barricades to hand over their petition to the King’s representatives outside the palace. “Our petition simply asks our King to delay the first meeting of the National Assembly because the two parties do not agree with each other yet,” Vorn Pao, head of the Independent Democratic of Informal Economic Association (IDEA), said. … The 10 groups presented the petition on behalf of more than 200,000 people, Pao said. A group of opposition activists was also blocked by security forces while trying to deliver a different petition on Saturday. …
May Titthara and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/petitions-piling-king
