Senate Slams Opposition Sam Rainsy Party’s Boycott

Cambodia Daily | 9 December 2015

Senate spokesman Mam Bun Neang issued a statement Monday describing as “shameful” the decision by the chamber’s 10 opposition senators to boycott the day’s vote in protest of the arrest warrant issued for opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

The 10 CNRP-aligned senators, whose party is named after Mr. Rainsy, were not present on Monday when 46 CPP senators voted unanimously to pass the 2016 national budget and the telecommunications law, but Mr. Bun Neang said the boycott was normal.

“It’s not strange, this matter of the Sam Rainsy Party senators taking this position,” Mr. Bun Neang wrote, before going on to criticize the opposition’s latest attempt to secure international support for its cause against the ruling CPP.

“Calling for countries and international institutions to intervene in order to interfere in the internal affairs of Cambodia is just a shameful habit,” he wrote.

Opposition Senator Chep Kim Eng said on Tuesday that his party’s boycott would not end until the CPP respects the CNRP in the National Assembly and makes an effort to “continue to implement the July 22, 2014 [political agreement] and restore the culture of dialogue.”