Eng Chhai Eang, vice president of the opposition party CNRP, on Monday, wrote on his Facebook page stating that the recent amendments to the four laws relating to political parties, approved by 67 lawmakers from the ruling party CPP alone in the same day, lead to the possibility to distribute CRNP's seats at all governmental level to other parties in case the CNRP would be dissolved by the Supreme Court. To Mr. Chhai Eang, the amendments are an act of «stealing» voice and choice from Cambodian people who chose to vote for the CNRP.
Mr. Chhai Eang added that if any political party would accept to take CNRP's seat, such political party would be considered as «receiving stolen goods» and would be charged following Article 400 of the Cambodia's Criminal Code.
"Receiving stolen goods is punishable by an imprisonment from 2 (two) years to 5 (five) years and a fine from 4,000,000 (four million) Riels to 10,000,000 (ten million) Riels," read Article 400 of the Criminal Code.
At this point, the UN has agreed with Mr. Chhai Eang on the fact that the dissolution of the CNRP would affect the voice and choice of the Cambodian people who chose to vote for the CNRP - their voice and choice would be lost if the CNRP would be dissolved.
"The dissolution of the CNRP would affect Cambodians’ voice and choice at all levels of government, raising serious concerns about the representativeness of government. I echo the call made last month by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who urged the government to respect civil and political rights and fundamental freedoms," said Mrs. Rhona Smith, the UN Special Rapporteur, on Thursday in her statement of warning.
Mrs. Smith added that what the ruling party CPP is doing regarding the amendments is suspicious to be under the guise of the rule of law.
"Rule of law is about more than the mere application of laws. All laws must respect human rights and must reflect the principles of fairness, justice and public participation. Otherwise, it becomes rule by law, not rule of law," added Mrs. Smith. "Modern Cambodia was established as a multi-party liberal democracy, respectful and protective of human rights. Its Constitution sought to prevent a return to a single-party state. Those who drafted the Constitution were all too well aware of the consequences of one-party rule," added Mrs. Smith.
In contrast, Mr. Sok Eysan, spokesman for the CPP, told reporters in the same day that it was the CNRP that stole voice and choice from Cambodian people by lying to them in order to get their vote. As a result, CNRP's seats are not in force anymore, and CNRP's merit would not be credible either.
"The confiscation of seat from a dissolved party is due to the fact that the party has violated people's will by using trick to cheat people in a view to undemocratically obtain seats. Such seats are not credible nor in force. In this case, the distribution of such seats is not the violation of people's will," wrote Mr. Eysan.
On the other hand, at the end of the day, Fresh News reported that General Tea Banh, Minister of National Defense, in his speech in a meeting with high ranking officers from the Cambodian armed forces, said that the CNRP would be dissolved for sure, and his armed forces are ready to defend the current elected government against any attempt to topple the government.
According to Gen. Banh, despite having 55 seats in the parliament, the CNRP did not do anything, besides boycotting parliament session. To him, if the government already decided to arrest the CNRP's president, Mr. Kem Sokha, he would not hesitate to do the rest.
Concerning this issue, an anonymous political analyst said that CNRP's members at the parliament are different from CNRP's members at grass-root level who are concentrating on developing their commune-sangkat instead.
He added that so far, most CNRP's commune councilors work with CPP's commune councilors without any problem, because they all are people living in the same commune-sangkat since they were born, they know each other very well.
"If the CRNP is dissolved, a royal pardon or any legal measure should be granted to CNRP's commune councilors for them to continue working with CPP's commune councilors to develop their commune, because they don't have much problem between them," said the political analyst.
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