Two new Funcinpec members confirmed to Senate

Soth Koemsoeun | Publication date 09 April 2018 | 11:57 ICT

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National Assembly president Heng Samrin, the CPP's honorary chairman, votes on Monday to confirm two new Funcinpec senators. Pha Lina

The National Assembly elected two members of Funcinpec to the Senate on Monday, completing the 62-member legislative body that is dominated by the ruling Cambodia People’s Party.

The lawmakers voted in Chea Chantevy and Suon Mean, both representatives of the royalist party that won less than 2 percent of the vote in 2017’s local elections.

Yoeurng Sotheara, a legal expert formerly at election watchdog Comfrel, said the Senate appointments of CPP-aligned lawmakers are part of a ploy to maintain the illusion of multi-party democracy, while securing power in the ruling party.

“The appointments by the National Assembly are… to avoid criticism,” Sotheara said.

The only viable electoral opposition, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was dissolved in November with its parliament seats redistributed to minor parties like Funcinpec, and its local commune seats mostly snatched up by the CPP.

The first 58 Senators are elected jointly by the commune councils and National Assembly. With the CPP now occupying 11,510 out of 11,572 commune council positions, the ruling party easily took all available seats.

Noting that Funcinpec president Prince Ranariddh already declared his “cooperation” with the ruling party, Sotheara said the selections preserve the “features” of democracy, but not real democracy.

“The real sense of democracy is nothing," he said. "There’s no real opposition party.”

Funcinpec filed the initial complaint against the CNRP, with observers accusing the royalists of striking a political deal in exchange for the seats.

Additional reporting by Andrew Nachemson