Parl: No limited term for PM

Tin Sokhavuth

The Cambodian parliament (National Assembly)

In a statement issued on Friday, the Cambodian parliament and senate stated that the Constitution does not limit the term of the prime minister as well as the​ amount of term for a political party to lead the country. The general election is only organized for Cambodian people to vote to choose political party instead of prime minister who is usually nominated by the party.

"The Constitution of Cambodia and its related laws do not set the amount of term or the amount of year for the function as prime minister," read the statement.

As for the Cambodian People Party (CPP), they proclaimed that Prime Minister Hun Sen would always be chosen to be prime minister as long as their party keeps winning election. So, nobody could prevent them from doing that.

In consequence, constitutionally, nothing wrong when Prime Minister Hun Sen said that he would be prime minister for at least ten more years if Cambodian people choose to vote for the CPP to lead the country. And the fact that he rules the country since more than 32 years is not unconstitutional neither

However, experts say that the term for prime minister could be limited by amending the Constitution if a political party has the will to do so in case that party wins the general election and has two-third of the total seats at the National Assembly.

Concerning this issue, an anonymous political analyst said that the amendment to the constitution of a country was not an easy task. Even in the US, no American congressman dares to say something about the II Amendment to the American Constitution, that allow American people to legally own gun, although many shootings and killings were committed by gun owners.

The political analyst added that it is not about limited term of not, it rather about development and prosperity. To him, if a political party could lead the country to a glorious future, they could stay in power as long as they keep doing good thing for Cambodian people. For example, in Singapore, The People's Action Party (PAP) stays in power for more than 58 years, since 1959, and people in Singapore still keep voting for the PAP to lead the country, because the PAP is doing good job for Singaporean people.