Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha continue to defy the CPP

Sam Rainsy during the election campaign (Photo: Pring Samrang, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

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

The new Parliament session looks like it will be shaken. On Tuesday 02 September, the opposition leader announced that he and his troops will go to take their oath in front of the king on 25 September, and not a day earlier as the CPP will. The HRP will follow suits with the SRP.
In Sam Rainsy’s mind, this initiative aims at demonstrating that the upcoming National Assembly was not elected on democratic basis. The SRP and the HRP still contest the results of the 27 July ballot, even though their complaints were successively rejected by the National Election Committee (NEC) and the Constitutional Council.
The Parliament procedure requires that at least 120 of the 123 MPs to meet on 24 September at the National Assembly, before taking their oath in front of the king. SRP and HRP MPs will not participate in the event at the National Assembly on that day. However, Sam Rainsy warned: “We are not giving up our seats. But, we do not want to sit next to MPs who stole our seats.” The 26 elected SRP MPs, and the 3 elected HRP MPs want to take oath directly in front of the king on 25 September, at the same time the CPP and the Funcinpec – and most likely the NRP also – will vote for the forming of the new government.