Opposition official role: SRP proposal rejected

28 Oct 2008
By Leang Delux Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

The SRP wishes to see an official recognition of its opposition status through an amendment of the National Assembly (NA) internal rule. However, such a request must pass by an approval of a law, a CPP MP indicated.

Cheam Yeap personally confirmed to Cambodge Soir Hebdo that the SRP proposal aiming to modify the NA internal rule in order to recognize the official role of the opposition parties, was rejected on Tuesday 28 October, before the proposal was even examined.

The CPP MP, a member of the NA permanent committee, explains that “this proposal was made against the usual procedure rules,” while noting that the term “opposition party” does not appear in the kingdom’s constitution. Article 82 of the internal rule stipulated that a proposal for an amendment must be presented by at ¼ of the MPs. However, the SRP with only 26 MPs is far from reaching the ¼ number required.

Last week, the SRP sent a letter to Heng Samrin, NA president, to remind him about this amendment and to push the NA to examine it.

However, not all is lost for the SRP yet (none of the SRP MPs could be contacted to obtain their reaction about the decision made by the NA permanent committee). Cheam Yeap provided the steps that the SRP must take: “The party must present a draft law, because if the SRP is officially recognized as an opposition party, it could benefit from public funds benefit to accomplish its work. Now, the allocation of a portion of the national budget can only be done through a law.”

On 24 September, a few hours before the NA inauguration session, Hun Sen accepted the demand made by Sam Rainsy to officially recognize the role of the opposition parties. However, Hun Sen indicated that it is necessary to set up an ad hoc group to look into this proposal.