AKP Phnom Penh, September 05, 2018 — His Majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni, King of Cambodia, has appealed to the newly-elected lawmakers to do their best to help people enjoy their rights and freedoms.
“All members of parliament who represent the whole nation will expend more vigorous efforts helping people to enjoy equal access to religious belief, education, decent jobs that are commensurate with their capacity, knowledge and qualifications,” said the Cambodian monarch in his royal speech at the inaugural session of the National Assembly of the sixth legislature held at the National Assembly Palace in Phnom Penh this morning.
The National Assembly, which has a legislative power, will continue fulfilling its duty as stipulated in the constitution and laws in force aimed at ensuring political, socio-economic and cultural sustainability, building a firm and modernised kingdom based on laws so as to ensure that all citizens are equal before the law while their rights and freedoms are protected and uplifted, he added.
“All laws passed by the National Assembly are the legal instruments to be carried out by the Royal Government to promote the rule of law in order to ensure that our country has adequate and appropriate legal frameworks in line with the developments and progress of our society,” His Majesty the King underlined.
Since its inception in 1993 over 25 years ago to date, Cambodia has transformed itself from a country with national division and territorial separation into what it is today with the enjoyment of full peace, stability, democracy and development in all fields, and people from all walks of life are living with hope and happiness, he said.
“It is my firm belief that the Royal Government of the new mandate will be given greater attention by the National Assembly, and will fulfill its duty in consistent with its political platform in beefing up economic growth and elevating the livelihoods of the people, further developing and strengthening social protection system covering all citizens, together with the preservation and expedition of sustainable cultural development with the aim of ensuring the firm existence of our national identify, speeding up socio-economic development, while in the meantime promoting morality for the maintenance of our social harmony,” he stressed.
“To accomplish this supreme duty, our nation must stand united and show strong national solidarity based on the spirit of national unity, including the strict adherence to four immeasurable in Buddhism (Brahmavihara): loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity,” he said.
His Majesty the King also extended his best wishes to the National Assembly of the 6th legislature for smooth proceeding with the huge sense of responsibility and more success for the sake of the common interests of the Cambodian fatherland and nation.
This afternoon, the 125 newly-elected lawmakers will be sworn-in at the Royal Palace. This morning, after the inaugural session, they decided the validity of each member’s mandate and adopted the NA’s internal regulation for the fifth legislature. The structure of the NA and the new government will be decided tomorrow.
In the National Election on July 29, 2018 with the participation of 20 political parties, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) got all the 125 NA seats.
Among the new elected lawmakers, there are 19 women, and the eldest lawmaker is 84 years old, while the youngest is 32 years old.
The fifth National Election held in July 2013, CPP won 3.23 million votes, or 68 of the 123 NA seats, while the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) got 2.9 million votes or the remaining 55 seats. After CNRP was dissolved by the Supreme Court of Cambodia on Nov. 16, 2017, the National Election Committee (NEC) distributed the vacant seats to different parties – FUNCINPEC Party (41), Cambodian Nationality Party (2), Khmer Economic Development Party (1), and the rest to CPP.
By Khan Sophirom
