CPP senators voted on Monday to block Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) senator Kun Lum Ang from joining the Senate human rights commission, which was previously chaired by her jailed husband, former SRP senator Hong Sok Hour.
Senate spokesman and CPP senator Mam Bun Neang said that only 18 of the 51 senators attending a plenary session on Monday voted her onto the commission, while 23 senators, all from the CPP, voted against her.
The seat will remain empty until Senate elections on January 14, Mr. Bun Neang said.
He said the CPP senators refused to consider Ms. Lum Ang because she would serve a short term on the commission and the name of her party violates the new party law amendments barring association with criminals.
“In the arena of democracy, it is the will of each of the Senate members,” he said.
Mr. Sok Hour was sentenced to seven years in prison in November after posting a fake border treaty between Vietnam and Cambodia on Facebook.
After Mr. Sok Hour was imprisoned, the Senate unanimously voted in June to have Ms. Lum Ang, who also runs Cambodian Independent Media, take his seat.
Ms. Lum Ang could not be reached.
The SRP intends to rebrand itself as the Candlelight Party, announcing the change at the end of last month, but it is not yet official.
