CNRP to return to assembly

THE Cambodia National Rescue Party yesterday pledged to end its effective boycott of parliament and return to the National Assembly in hopes of negotiating a solution with the CPP to the country’s ongoing political crisis.

CNRP chief whip Son Chhay said yesterday that the decision to end its parliamentary boycott was a response to a speech by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday, in which he deemed the parliament the “only place to talk”.

Chhay said the party, besieged by a raft of legal cases widely considered political, hopes to negotiate a solution with their ruling party counterparts within two or three months.

He also vowed to use the party’s parliamentary prerogative to grill Defence Minister Tea Banh over use of the military against the party after troops conducted numerous “exercises” around CNRP headquarters in an apparent show of force accompanied by ominous rhetoric from top officials.

Also in the CNRP’s crosshairs is Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon, who will be questioned over falling rice prices and land disputes, and Health Minister Mam Bun Heng, who lawmakers will query about the Kingdom’s poor health service, Chhay said.

“I will prepare questions for members of government,” Chhay told reporters outside CONTINUED

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HONG MENEA Cambodia National Rescue Party representatives approach a checkpoint at Prey Sar prison yesterday where they visited detained party members and supporters.