Prime Minister Hun Sen warned that the CPP would take over the work of all government and legislative institutions if Funcinpec and the Sam Rainsy Party obstructed his premiership in the new government.
“Cambodian people won’t become hostages of the political deadlock, which is caused by a group of politicians,” Hun Sen told reporters at the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.
As long as Funcinpec and the Sam Rainsy Party continue to demand that he step down as prime minister, Hun Sen said “the winning party will take over all work, including the Senate, the National Assembly and the government.” He added the CPP had the right to do so because it had secured the majority of positions in all three bodies.
“What I want is to assure the Cambodian people that everything will proceed as normal,” he said.
He did not state what the role of current Funcinpec ministers and government officials would be.
Although it won the July 27 general election with 73 seats in the Assembly, the CPP is nine short of the number needed to govern alone. Funcinpec and Sam Rainsy Party officials have said they refuse to join a new government with Hun Sen at the helm.
Meanwhile, the three parties have yet to negotiate the formation of the new government.
Hun Sen said it would be useless for Funcinpec and the Sam Rainsy Party to seek negotiations with CPP President Chea Sim in a bid to remove the sitting premier.
“I want to clarify that in the CPP, I am the deputy and also the prime minister candidate and also the chief of the electoral committee and also the chief of electoral finance. If they don’t talk with me, there is no way,” he said.
Hun Sen also suggested that the two other parties collaborate with the CPP to amend the Constitution, allowing a new government to be formed through a simple majority vote, or approval by more than 50 percent, of the Assembly. Currently, a new government can be adopted only by a two-thirds majority vote.
The 40-minute question period was Hun Sen’s longest session with reporters since the vote.
In response to the prime minister’s statements, Funcinpec spokesman Kassie Neou said Tuesday he did not believe Funcinpec officials would be ousted from their positions in the interim government.
“I don’t think [Hun Sen] will go that far,” he said, adding, “The caretaker government cannot last long because it will look awkward” to the international community.
Sam Rainsy Party Secretary-General Eng Chhay Eang agreed, saying “sooner or later the Hun Sen government will collapse.”
Kassie Neou, however, said certain Funcinpec government officials were currently being stripped of their responsibilities, particularly in the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.
Pok Than, Funcinpec Secretary of State for the Ministry of Education, on Tuesday said he was informed that he could no longer approve ministry orders as his signature was no longer recognized. His CPP counterpart in the ministry, Im Sethy, declined to answer questions Tuesday.
Last month, opposition leader Sam Rainsy told reporters that Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh had informed him that Funcinpec ministers and government officials would resign from their positions, protesting a government they believed was illegitimate.
But Kassie Neou said this week that the party’s government officials had no intention of quitting.
“Where is the gain from that? Funcinpec doesn’t want to make more problems on top of the current situation,” he said. “We stay on with the current government.”
On Monday, CPP co-Minister of Interior Sar Kheng announced that, despite having been sworn in to the Assembly Oct 4, newly elected lawmakers have not yet been granted parliamentary immunity.
“Saying so, it doesn’t mean I want to arrest this or that person. But this is the law,” Sar Kheng said at a ceremony in Kompong Thom province. “The National Assembly is still half-born.”
(Additional reporting by Lor Chandara and Wency Leung)
