Boycott To Kill Remaining Assembly Session

Funcinpec and Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarians say they will boycott the remainder of this legislative session, thereby leaving the National Assembly short of a quorum and preventing supporters of Prime Minister Hun Sen from stripping Fun­cin­pec lawmaker Princess Norodom Va­cheara of her parliamentary im­munity.

Such stasis has become common during this parliamentary ses­sion, which has failed to reach a quorum seven times since the Jan 29 riots, leaving a controversial domestic violence law in limbo.

Should the opposition and royalist lawmakers stay true to their word, the three-months-on, three-months-off schedule would mean the law could not be debated again until June at the earliest.

Hun Sen filed a defamation lawsuit against Princess Vacheara Mon­day after she accused the premier of slandering her before a Council of Min­is­ters meeting last week.

Deputy Assembly Secretary-General Chan Ven of the CPP said lawmakers would ­convene Mon­day, a day be­fore the session ends. He said no motion for the removal of Prin­cess Va­chea­ra’s parliamentary im­munity has been put forth.

“The Assembly will continue to meet and discuss the domestic violence law, but I do not know if we will get a quorum,” he said, adding that it is up to Assembly President Prince No­ro­dom Rana­riddh to decide whe­ther the session will continue Tues­day.

Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay, in a letter printed in Thurs­day’s Cambodia Daily, pledged the Sam Rainsy Party’s support for Princess Vacheara, writing, “The princess is assured that her immunity cannot be lifted since…the National Assembly would not be able to meet on such an agenda for a lack of a quorum.”

“Lawmakers fear their presence [in the Assembly] could be used to remove the immunity of this and that person, which is illegal and against the rights of the lawmaker,” opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Thursday while visiting Funcinpec headquarters to honor slain royalist Om Rad­sa­dy.

Funcinpec lawmaker Keo Re­my also gave his assurance that there would be no more quorums this session. He attributed the boycott to the dispute between Hun Sen and Princess Vacheara, this week’s killing of Om Radsady, general dissatisfaction with the domestic violence law and the politicians’ preoccupation with their election campaigns.

“I have no faith in the As­sem­bly being able to meet because of those reasons,” Keo Remy said.