The Constitutional Council has a problem: No one knows what the institution does.
“It is a new institution, just created in 1998,” council member Bin Chhin said. “Civil servants either don’t understand it or aren’t interested in it. We, the members, must work to explain it.”
The council launched a campaign last week to educate civil servants about its operations.
One of its main tasks, Bin Chhin explained, is to solve parliamentary election controversies.
“We are holding meetings and informing local authorities about the council’s role relevant to elections because election controversies can become very heated,” he said.
The council also reviews laws passed by parliament to ensure that they are constitutional.
The council was briefly in the spotlight last year, after it found fault with the long-awaited law for an international tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge leaders.
The law made indirect reference to the death penalty, which is prohibited under the Constitution.
The Council sent the law back to parliament for amendment.
Besides that incident, the council labors in obscurity—even though, as council member Top Som noted, it has the final word on important matters.
“The Constitutional Council is an independent, neutral institution that is not under the power of the government or any other institution,” Top Som said. “The council’s decisions cannot be appealed.”
The council is composed of nine members—three of whom were selected by King Norodom Sihanouk, three by the Assembly and another three by the Supreme Council of Magistracy. Some members are longtime legal experts who were lawyers and judges in the 1960s.
In addition, the council’s new push aims at ministry officials in the capital. “We just started with the Interior Ministry—other ministries will be next,” Bin Chhin said.
