Cambodia: Adjusted election laws take effect
Hanoi (VNA) – Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on October 25 signed a royal ordinance approving four controversial amendments to elections laws.
The four amendments to election laws include
Amendments to the Law on the Election of the Members of Parliament, Amendments
to the Law on the Election of the Senate, Amendments to the Law on the Election
of Commune Councils, Amendments to the Law on the Election of the Capital,
Provincial, Municipal and District Councils.
The changes allow the National Election Committee
(NEC) to reallocate seats of parties who refuse their seats or are dissolved.
The Cambodian Constitutional Council announced on
October 24 that it has approved four controversial amendments to election laws,
which had been passed by the National Assembly and Senate on October 16 and 20,
respectively.
In early October, the Cambodian Ministry of Interior
asked the Supreme Court to disband the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party
(CNRP), based on complaints from the Cambodian Youth Party (CYP) on October 4
and the FUNCIPEC Party on October 5 accusing the CNRP and its President Kem
Sokha of treason.
The new laws will pave the way for the CNRP’s seats to
be redistributed if the party is dissolved.
Cambodian media outlets have several times mentioned
the possibility of the CNRP being dissolved. The 55 seats in the National
Assembly will be given to FUNCIPEC (41 seats), League for Democracy Party (six
seats), Khmer Anti-Poverty Party (five seats), Cambodian Nationality Party (two
seats) and the Khmer Economic Development Party (one seat).-VNA