 |
A marriage between unequals necessitated by mutual
convenience - Funcinpec secretary general Nhek Bun Chhay, who was recently
appointed as an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, now has a rank equivalent to
Deputy Prime Minister. HENG CHIVOAN
|
PPP Wed, 16 October 2013
May Titthara
The former president and current party secretary of the
struggling Funcinpec party, Nhek Bun Chhay, has been nominated as a government
adviser – a position the government ranks equivalent to that of a deputy prime
minister.
Senior ruling Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yeap
said the promotion of Bun Chhay, and other Funcinpec members – which comes
after the party failed to win a single seat in the July national election – was
simply a continuation of long-standing cooperation.
“The promotion is simple because the CPP’s policy has always
been to cooperate with the Funcinpec party, and many Funcinpec party members
are working in the government as secretaries of state and undersecretaries, and
some are working in the provinces,” he said.
Bun Chhay, who held the title of deputy prime minister
before the election, said yesterday he was promoted to the position on October
1.
“And some of my party members will be promoted to secretary
of state and undersecretary of state,” he said.
Political analyst Sok Touch said that, in promoting members
of Funcinpec, the government was taking precautions, securing a reliable ally
“for future actions, if there is a problem in the sixth election”.
Funcinpec, which was established by then-King Norodom
Sihanouk in 1981, won Cambodia’s 1993 election under President Norodom
Ranariddh but was forced into a power-sharing arrangement with the CPP and has
gradually seen its influence whittled away ever since.
After the party lost the 1998 national election, it returned
as a coalition partner of the CPP and has remained cooperative with the ruling
party.
No comments:
Post a Comment