According to the Cambodian Constitution the country is supposed to be a liberal democracy, governed by the rule of law and respecting the international human rights norms and standards. This democracy is a parliamentary democracy with a representative parliament composed of a directly elected National Assembly and an indirectly elected Senate. It is equipped with a system of checks and balances, with separation of powers and an independent judiciary. Power is vested with the Cambodian people, who exercise it through the parliament, the government and the judiciary.
However, the institutions for parliamentary democracy and the rule of law are largely dysfunctional and are dominated by the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party or CPP, a former communist party, which has grown in strength after a setback in the transition from communism in the early 1990s. These institutional defects and the increasing strength and dominance of the ruling party are having an impact on the democratic space in Cambodia and the rights and freedoms of its people and their elected representatives.
In July of this year Cambodia held a parliamentary election in which the ruling CPP won an overwhelming majority of seats in the National Assembly, 90 out of 123. Four other parties won the rest of the seats with the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) having 26, the Human Rights Party (HRP) 3, FUNCINPEC 2 and the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) 2.
The CPP has continued in office with FUNCINPEC and NRP as its allies while SRP and HRP are in the opposition. When the new parliament was sworn in last September, the CPP used its overwhelming dominance to force the adoption of the internal rules or standing orders of its predecessor, despite opposition from SRP and HRP.
According to Articles 48 and 55 of these standing orders, MPs are seated in groups, each of which are composed of at least ten members with a leader and a deputy-leader. MPs from parties with less than ten seats must join a group of their liking. An MP cannot speak in the parliament unless he or she is a member of a group, makes a request to speak through the representative of the group, and gets permission from the National Assemblys Chairman.
The conditions laid down by these standing orders have denied MPs the right to freedom of speech in the parliament in the exercise of their mandate. They have already prevented the three MPs from the HRP from speaking in the National Assembly since they had been sworn in, when they uphold the independent stand of their party, want to be free to speak their minds without any inhibition, and refuse to join any group.
By thus denying MPs the right to free speech, these standing orders have violated one of the fundamental conditions for a parliament to be representative, which Cambodias National Assembly is supposed to be, and for its members to represent their electors effectively, a representation which Cambodias constitution has guaranteed. They have therefore violated Cambodias own constitution which has fully recognized this condition when MPs represent not only their constituents but also the whole nation and are free to speak their minds.
Article 77 of this constitution says: The deputies in the National Assembly shall represent the entire Cambodian people, not only Cambodians from their constituencies. Any imperative mandate shall be null and void.
The same standing orders have run counter to the parliamentary immunity from prosecution, arrest or detention that MPs enjoy under Article 80 of the constitution, for opinions expressed in the exercise of their mandate. The Law on the Status of Members of Parliament (2006) has affirmed as absolute this immunity.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) holds that Articles 48 and 55 of the standing orders that deny MPs freedom of speech are unconstitutional, and urges the National Assembly of Cambodia to remove them without delay so that Members of Parliament, regardless of whether they are in the minority, are free to speak their minds without any inhibition in the exercise of their mandate as elected representatives of the Cambodian people.
