In what the CNRP hopes will be its third and final attempt to get approval for the party’s three vice presidents, its steering committee yesterday re-elected the officials following the Interior Ministry’s acceptance of amended bylaws earlier this month.
CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann told reporters after the meeting that the opposition will submit the names of the newly elected deputies—Mu Sochua, Eng Chhay Eang and Pol Ham—to the ministry in the next few days, but declined to provide a specific date.
The party has amended its bylaws three times since March to appease the ministry, which rejected the first two rounds of changes before accepting the third revision earlier this month.
The trio of senior CNRP lawmakers were first elected at a party congress in March, during which then-CNRP vice president Kem Sokha was promoted to party president.
But the Interior Ministry said the elections broke the opposition’s internal rules, leading to a weekslong back-and-forth between the opposition and the ministry.
After meeting yesterday with more than 100 female commune election candidates at party headquarters, the opposition’s
steering committee members, led by Mr. Sokha, unanimously voted to re-elect the vice presidents under the new bylaws.
Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said yesterday his ministry had not yet received the documents from the opposition and declined to comment before reviewing them.
“We will fulfill our duty of the law, like we did in previous times,” General Sopheak said. “Whether we would recognize them or not, we will send the letter to inform the CNRP.”
