King Norodom Sihamoni presided over the inaugural session of the Senate’s fifth mandate on Wednesday, as 62 elected senators were sworn in, including three senators from the opposition Khmer Will Party.
Former Prime Minister Hun Sen was voted in as the president of the house along with two vice presidents – Prak Sokhonn and Ouch Borith.
In his speech, King Sihamoni said the Senate must contribute to a balance of power to ensure peace, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, political stability, while protecting the Constitution and the monarch.
“The Senate must protect the common interest and social justice, and respect rights, freedoms, beliefs and dignity,” King said. “Our liberal, multi-party democracy is being implemented intelligently in the spirit of national reconciliation.”
Senate president Hun Sen has committed to lead the legislative body in fulfilling its role and responsibilities in joining with the National Assembly and the government to meet their obligations to the nation.
“We will firmly defend the constitution, monarch, liberal democracy, pluralism and the rule of law,” Hun Sen said.
In February, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party swept 55 seats out of 58 seats in the Senate election, while the opposition Khmer Will Party secured three seats. As for the remaining seats, two were appointed by the King and another two senators by the National Assembly.
Senator from Khmer Will Party Kong Monika said the capture of three seats by the opposition is a positive start for the legislative body, where the previous mandate was dominated by the ruling CPP.
“This is a resurgence of multi-party democracy and even though there are only a few of us, we’ll do our best to implement [a check and balance] role in the Senate.
“Now [we] have three people. We think this is a forum for us to discuss with the ruling party [CPP] in relation to issues of social injustice, democracy and human rights,” Monika said.
The Senate’s role is to review legislations and enforcements of the law by the government. “We’ll monitor [the enforcements] and bring [villagers’] concern to the Senate’s leader as well as the government to find solutions,” he added.
Meanwhile, political analyst Meas Nee said the opposition party seats are minor and cannot change the situation or restore backsliding democracy and human rights.
“We have seen this in the past. The three [opposition] senators [would] have no impact on the Senate because of their limited voice,” he said.
Citing the 2013 election, where the disbanded Cambodia National Rescue Party won 55 seats in the National Assembly, Nee opined that the Khmer Will Party Senate members would not be able to make a difference against the CPP.
