Vice President of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Kem Sokh. (Source: phnompenhpost.com) The Cambodian National Assembly on October 30 removed Vice President of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Kem Sokha from his position as the first vice president of the parliament.
The decision was made after all of the 68 lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), including Prime Minister Hun Sen, voted to dismiss Kem Sokha during a parliamentary session. Meanwhile, 55 opposition parliamentarians were not present at the session.
"I would like to announce that Kem Sokha was removed from the post as the National Assembly's first vice president by the legislature," National Assembly President Heng Samrin said after the vote.
On October 26, thousands of CPP supporters rallied outside the parliament urging Kem Sokha to step down while accusing him of inciting violence and racial hatred.
Kem Sokha became the National Assembly’s first Vice President after the CPP and the CNRP reached a political agreement on July 22, 2014. Accordingly, the CNRP ended its ten-month boycott of the parliament following the 2013 elections in exchange for parliamentary power sharing and electoral reform.
In the elections, the CPP won 68 parliamentary seats and the remaining 55 seats belonged to the opposition party.-VNA
