Rainsy's party launches public petition against new parliament
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Cambodian opposition seeks to dissuade king from attending first session
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) has started collecting thumbprints from voters nationwide for a petition to ask King Norodom Sihamoni not to attend the first session of parliament, a source said.
In a letter sent on Wednesday to the Cambodia National Rescue Party, the king said that he would preside over the first session of parliament on September 23, and asked that the opposition’s 55 elected lawmakers attend the session.
A CNRP senior official said yesterday that his party held a meeting on Wednesday with all its 55 elected lawmakers and decided to write a letter to the king asking that he delay the first session of parliament. However, their request was rejected.
“Our 55 lawmakers are firm on their position and they will not attend the first session of parliament on September 23,” he said, requesting anonymity.
He said CNRP’s lawmakers signed and sent a joint letter to the king to show that they were boycotting the first session of parliament and asked the king to reconsider.
Opposition party leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha said recently that their party would not attend the session if there were still no solutions to what its says were serious irregularities in July’s election that saw PM Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party re-elected.
The ruling and opposition leaders have met three times over the course of four days to discuss and find a solution to the political deadlock, but significant issues have yet to be resolved.
During a meeting on Monday, the two opposing parties agreed upon a three-point course of action starting with respecting the king’s wishes to end violence, reforming the national election system for the next mandate and continuing talks on all levels.
They also agreed to reform some of the country’s national institutions.
However, the two parties still disagree over CNRP’s demand for the establishment of an independent committee to investigate the election issues.
