Says 3 Party Leaders Needed to Alter Way New Gov’t Is Formed Move on Gov’t Formed
King Norodom Sihanouk said Wednesday that agreement of all parties elected to the new National Assembly should be secured in order to change the Constitution to make it easier to form a new government.
“An amendment of our Constitution should be possible IF [King’s emphasis] the leaders of the three big parties elected by our beloved people in the July 26 elections…are ALL in agreement that there should be such an amendment,” the King said in an interview with his staff Wednesday.
The King also said Wednesday that he and Queen Norodom Monineath oppose rumored attempts to change the Constitution to allow the Queen to take the throne upon his death. A Khmer-language newspaper on Tuesday reported a movement to make such a change.
The faxed interview from the King’s cabinet came a day after news broke that the ruling CPP is working to convene members of the outgoing parliament to try to change the Constitution and break the political deadlock that intensified this past week.
A CPP spokesman said the ruling party wants to change the Constitution to allow it to form a government with an absolute-majority confirmation vote in the new National Assembly instead of the two-thirds majority now needed.
Such a change would allow the CPP to avoid forming a coalition with an increasingly recalcitrant Funcinpec.
But opposition leaders and many analysts doubt that the CPP could turn enough Funcinpec and BLDP lawmakers in the outgoing parliament to convene it and make the change before the current Assembly’s mandate ends Sept 24. The Assembly needs 70 percent of its 120 members present to meet under its internal regulations.
King Sihanouk’s statement carries weight, as he is one of three people allowed to initiate a change in the Constitution under Article 123. Legal experts said that the same article also allows the prime minister or the chairman of the National Assembly to initiate such a change.
