News

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 ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s middle son, Hun Manith, was among 28 officers to receive high-level promotions in the military, with the now three-star general continuing his rise through the ranks of the armed forces and ruling party. ...

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. ...

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. ...

Former opposition leader Sam Rainsy met with government officials in Australia and New Zealand this week, requesting that the two nations issue visa bans against Cambodian People’s Party officials and their families in response to the arrest of opposition head Kem Sokha for treason. ...

Cambodia and China reached here yesterday six memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in order to further tighten and expand the cooperation between the two countries. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen and visiting H.E. Liu Yunshan, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen returned from a three-day trip to China yesterday, all but confirming in a statement what observers have long theorised: that Cambodia now sees China’s backing as a bulwark against Western criticisms over its rights record. ...

A Ministry of Interior directive requiring provincial approval for work done on commune halls prompted a thinly veiled threat from a ministry spokesman yesterday that a popular opposition commune chief could be arrested if she didn’t comply. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday pledged to remain in power 10 more years to “maintain stability” in Cambodia, going on to blame the fatal crackdown on wage protests in 2014 on a “conspiracy” orchestrated by the beleaguered opposition. ...

The Cambodia National Rescue Party will refuse to appoint a new president following the arrest of current leader Kem Sokha on Sunday, Deputy President Mu Sochua said yesterday, a decision she acknowledged may lead to the dissolution of the party should Sokha be convicted of ...

Social Affairs Minister Vong Soth said on Monday that all civil servants must support the Cambodian People’s Party or resign from their jobs, and warned that the government will use bamboo rods to bludgeon anyone who protests after next year’s election. ...

A newly elected opposition commune chief who allowed constituents to put a donation box in his office to fund commune services has found himself under fire by ruling party peers and higher-ups. ...

Cambodia’s Cabinet has not held its constitutionally mandated weekly meeting since June 16, fueling speculation about Prime Minister Hun Sen’s health and confusion over why officials have forgone the meetings. ...

While highly contentious new rules were being passed in the National Assembly on Monday banning the CNRP from collaborating with its former leader Sam Rainsy, photographs were posted to Facebook of senior opposition lawmakers dining at a riverside hotel in Kampot province. ...

The National Assembly’s permanent committee will today schedule a plenary session of parliament to debate and vote on laws that would ban the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party from associating with its former leader Sam Rainsy, or ever using images of his face, recordings of ...

The process of swearing in commune councillors across the country began yesterday, marking the start of their five-year terms in local administration, with opposition commune chiefs saying they were undeterred by Interior Minister Sar Kheng’s comments last week. ...

The Cambodian People’s Party won 70 percent of the country’s 1,646 commune councils at yesterday’s elections, according to unofficial results published by a government-aligned media outlet – a marked drop from the 97 percent it won in 2012 but one far smaller than the opposition ...

 In a country known for its political patronage networks, volunteering for a demotion is rare. But Moeung Visalsok, 46, a ruling Cambodian People’s Party district council member in Kampong Chhnang province, is doing just that.   ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday stressed that ethnic Vietnamese have been living in Cambodia since the French colonial period and did not arrive only during his premiership. Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new road in Tbong Khmum province, the prime minister said it was ...

Two Chak Angre Leu commune officials traded blows at a voter registration drive in Phnom Penh on Sunday morning and the National Election Committee (NEC) said it will hold a hearing for both men to air their grievances and explain their actions. ...

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. ...

Senior opposition member Son Chhay said yesterday that he and his fellow party members would enter the National Assembly to resolve some ongoing problems and planned to summon four ministers for clarifications as well as to appeal for the health minister’s resignation. After visiting opposition officials ...

The Cambodia National Rescue Party yesterday declared its intention to move forward with nationwide demonstrations in response to what it calls a campaign of state-backed legal harassment, prompting a swift reply from Prime Minister Hun Sen, who warned security forces had been advised to crack ...

In an open letter to the leaders of Asean member states and the rest of the world, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) yesterday attacked the opposition for allegedly “undermining democracy, political stability and the image of Cambodia in the international arena.” On Monday, the government ...