The Constitutional Council Says Proposed Amendment to the Constitution Is Legal

The Constitutional Council (CC) this morning announced that the proposition to amend some new articles of the constitution is legal.
The announcement was made following the CC’s plenary meeting to prepare their comments for His Majesty the King on the draft constitution on the amendment to the New Articles 19, 82, 106 (1), 119, and 137 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia; and the Articles 3 and 4 of the Additional Constitutional Law to ensure the normal functioning of national institutions, held under the chairmanship of its President H.E. Im Chhun Lim.
The proposition on the constitution amendment is in line with the context of actual situation and has no effect on liberal democracy, pluralism and constitutional monarchy, and was made when the country is not in the state of emergency, underlined the announcement.
In their weekly meeting last Friday, the cabinet ministers approved the draft constitution on the amendment to the New Articles 19, 82, 106 (1), 119, and 137 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia; and the Articles 3 and 4 of the Additional Constitutional Law to ensure the normal functioning of national institutions.
The approved draft constitution stipulates that the National Assembly President, Senate President, Prime Minister and CC President must have a single Khmer nationality.
The National Assembly, the Senate, the Royal Government and the CC are the nation’s supreme institutions responsible for making decisions on important matters that are the nation’s lifeblood to ensure national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cambodia; the nation’s and people’s supreme interests; and the absolute opposition to foreign interference in the internal affairs or to order on national and international policies of Cambodia.
On this basis, National Assembly President, Senate President, Prime Minister and CC President are all obliged to take the oath of office in the presence of the King by making a firm commitment to be loyal to the nation and protect the supreme interests of the Cambodian nation and people. At the same time, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia and related laws also require that all MPs, senators, Prime Minister and CC’s members must be Cambodian nationals by birth.
Moreover, the president, vice presidents and members of the National Election Committee, which is also an institution enshrined in the Constitution, are also required by law to be of Khmer nationality by birth and to have only one Khmer nationality in order to ensure the fulfillment of their duties related to the election work so that it is conducted independently to ensure the protection of national interests from external interference in the internal affairs of the election process.

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press