CPP Finalizes List of Government Appointees

The ruling CPP on Monday finalized its list of appointees for the next government during a meeting between Prime Minister Hun Sen and CPP lawmakers at the party’s headquarters in Phnom Penh, officials said.

With the final list ready, all that remains is for the National As­sembly to approve the appointments, a vote that Hun Sen recently said would take place Sept 25. As the CPP dominates the Assembly, there should be no challenge to the formation of the new government, which is set to be affirmed in one package vote rather than on an appointee-by-appointee basis.

“We have prepared the draft for the National Assembly to vote on,” said CPP lawmaker and party standing committee member Cheam Yeap.

With the list confirmed, it now appears certain that seven of the government’s 25 ministries will have new ministers: Health, Ed­uc­ation, Public Works, Rural Dev­elop­ment, Culture, Religion and Nation­al Assembly-Senate Rel­ations.

Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kan­harith said the newly approved list had changed little from an initial draft produced just two days after the July 27 election.

“The minister positions will be the same. There are some reshuffles of the secretary of state and undersecretary of state positions,” he said. Khieu Kanharith added that he could not reveal any more about the appointee list in order to “prevent requests to change the positions.”

Cheam Yeap, however, revealed that the CPP’s junior partner Funcinpec was not getting the positions it had been hoping for.

The CPP had already revealed that it would take all of the minister positions in the new government, but Funcinpec officials said they had submitted a request for one secretary and one undersecretary of state position in each ministry.

Cheam Yeap said by telephone Monday that the royalist party would in some ministries receive two such positions, but it was far from a guarantee.

“Funcinpec might have one, two or three positions in a ministry,” he said.

Funcinpec Secretary-General Nhiek Bun Chhay could not be reached for comment Monday.

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