Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday warned the CNRP that the political deal he cut with the party last month could come undone if its 55 elected lawmakers do not turn up to this morning’s sitting of the National Assembly, the first to be scheduled since the opposition agreed to end its boycott of parliament.
Mr. Hun Sen’s warning came hours after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a ruling against releasing on bail three CNRP Youth organizers who were arrested on Saturday on seemingly spurious charges of taking part in an insurrection.
Speaking at a Cambodian Red Cross event at the Chaktomuk Conference Hall, Mr. Hun Sen told the opposition party lawmakers that they must show up this morning if they want to pass the reforms under the July 22 deal he cut with opposition leader Sam Rainsy.
“If you don’t come to attend the session tomorrow, then I will have other jobs to do,” he said, predicting that the CNRP would soon renege and request a new session.
Mr. Hun Sen threatened that the CPP’s 68 lawmakers may not have the party discipline to vote for the reforms without him.
“If I don’t enter the Assembly…I would like to inform you that getting votes for the CNRP will be difficult,” he said.
The CNRP’s lawmakers had boycotted sittings of the National Assembly since it was convened in September, arguing that credible claims of election fraud and irregularities at the July 2013 election had not been properly investigated.
Mr. Hun Sen said that so long as the CNRP lawmakers turn up today, the start of the process of passing electoral and constitutional reforms he promised Mr. Rainsy on July 22 would move ahead.
Among those reforms was to hand the post of first vice president of the National Assembly to the opposition, which has put forward CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha as its candidate. A vote is set to install Mr. Sokha in the coming week.
“I told him: ‘I guarantee I will advocate for the CPP members to vote for you. Don’t worry,’” Mr. Hun Sen said. “I have made clear not only to CPP lawmakers but also to officials that our party is a mature political party. We must be real with our political promises.”
On Thursday morning, Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Keo Mony handed down an order rejecting bail for CNRP activists Khin Chamrouen, 32; Neang Sokhun, 28; and San Kimheng, 28, who were arrested Saturday over a brawl on July 15.
“The release of the accused on bail could affect the court investigation, as questioning has not finished yet,” Judge Mony wrote in his judgment. The lawyer for the trio, Sam Sokong, criticized the decision, saying all had jobs and families that prevented them fleeing and would appear at court whenever called.
At a protest to open Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park last month, CNRP protesters viciously beat district security guards who for months had terrorized and thrashed those seeking to enter the park.
In the days that followed, authorities jailed seven CNRP lawmakers-elect and a party official present at the protest, releasing them a week later, just hours after Mr. Rainsy and Mr. Hun Sen cut a deal to end the 12-month political deadlock.
In a surprise move, the three CNRP Youth activists were then arrested and jailed on Saturday, three days before the opposition lawmakers were sworn in to their positions at the Royal Palace.
Mr. Rainsy has said since the arrest of the three that he believed they would be released when his party swore in, which happened in a ceremony on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he claimed the process to release the CNRP youth leaders had already started.
On Thursday, Mr. Rainsy said that Interior Minister Sar Kheng had assured him that the three activists would be released soon.
“I’ve had talks with Mr. Sar Kheng, he said he would take steps to ensure they will be released as soon as possible, but they have to follow some procedures,” Mr. Rainsy said, explaining that the bail refusal had been appealed.
“Now it is in-between the first court and the appeal court so nothing can be done. We have to wait; it will be at most days,” he said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak could not be reached to confirm that Mr. Kheng had made such a promise.
Mr. Rainsy also said Mr. Hun Sen need not warn him against a surprise boycott of today’s National Assembly sitting, saying the CNRP was eager to enact the reforms under the July 22 deal.
“He does not need to warn us or anything like this, we want the process to proceed smoothly. The 55 lawmakers of the CNRP will attend tomorrow.”
(Additional reporting by Alex Willemyns)
