Two district councilors from the SRP were dismissed from their elected posts in Kompong Chhnang province on Tuesday by the Ministry of Interior, which claimed that the men had invalidated their positions by participating in the CNRP election campaign, officials said.
Samaki Meanchey district council members Sao Horn and Chhurn Chhoeun were given their marching orders during a meeting with district council chief Kao Hon and 16 other council members—all of them CPP members. The SRP and the HRP merged in November to form the CNRP.
Mr. Hon justified the firing by citing a letter dated July 2 and signed by CPP Interior Minister Sar Kheng stating that councilors will invalidate their office if they simultaneously hold membership in two parties.
“Full time and also reserve members of a party must be invalidated from that old party when they join a new political party,” states the minister’s letter, which was an extension of a policy used by the CPP in the run-up to the election. In June, the National Assembly’s permanent committee, made up entirely of CPP lawmakers, decided to strip 27 SRP and HRP parliamentarians of their positions and salaries because they had joined together to form the CNRP.
Mr. Horn, one of the sacked councilors, said that he and Mr. Chhoeun were the victims of injustice and were being punished for simply erecting CNRP signs in front of their houses.
“Our elected terms come to an end after the district and provincial elections in May next year,” he said.
Until local elections are held in May 2014, the SRP in Kompong Chhnang retains three provincial councilors, 20 district councilors in eight districts and 87 commune councilors in 69 communes, SRP provincial council member Duong Chantara said.
“The district council chief has also threatened to fire SRP commune council members, but he did it at the district level first,” Mr. Chantara said.
CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said he knew about the dismissals but said his party did not yet know how many council members have been fired from their posts throughout the country.
“I understand that the CPP has dismissed our members, which is contrary to the law because their positions are valid until after the district and provincial elections,” he said.
District council chief Mr. Hon refused to comment, while deputy district governor Sorm Meng confirmed that the councilors had been fired, but declined to elaborate.
