Senior CPP lawmaker and de facto party spokesman Cheam Yeap said Thursday that a ministerial reshuffle will be decided next week ahead of the scheduled September 23 opening session of the National Assembly.
While Mr. Yeap confirmed that the ruling party would be changing the portfolios held by ministers, he said that the party had not yet met to decide on who would be losing and gaining new positions.
“Some ministers will change but I don’t know yet which ministers will be changed,” he said. “[It] will be known within the next week.”
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said Thursday that he was also not sure which CPP ministers would change, or whether any younger members of the ruling party could be promoted.
“Only the prime minister can choose who can be a minister, so for the time being no one knows that,” he said. “Only the prime minister and [CPP secretary-general] Say Chhum can know that.”
Mr. Siphan suggested, however, that the official announcement of the ministerial reshuffle might not come until the new National Assembly is actually seated.
“On the 23rd or 24th [of September], you will see,” he said.
On Monday, it was announced that 14 of the government’s 26 ministers were among a group of ruling party lawmakers who had stepped aside from their positions as lawmakers in the National Assembly to make way for lawmakers lower down the party’s rostrum of election candidates.
The group included Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana and Rural Development Minister Chea Sophara.
The opposition’s strong showing in the July 28 election has taken many parliamentary seats from the ruling CPP forcing it to redistribute positions among its members.
Koul Panha, executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, said that changes to the Cabinet—or even promotions into it—should be justified on merit and not be seen as the product of horse-trading.
“Transparency is important. This new generation [of ministers] will be based on what?” he asked.
