The opposition party yesterday called for a postponement of election reform talks with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party in favour of a meeting between top party leaders, citing the continuing failure of a lower-level joint committee to agree on National Election Committee overhaul.
The discord was such that following more than two hours behind closed doors at the Senate – though CPP officials later said talks had only lasted 30 minutes before the opposition cancelled the meeting – the two parties not only failed to issue a joint statement, but also wanted to hold separate, but simultaneous, press briefings.
After complaints from reporters, they agreed to hold them one after the other.
Son Chhay, the CNRP’s head delegate to the committee, said his party wished to postpone talks because CPP delegates were refusing to focus discussions on NEC reform.
“Our delegation to the committee reached the limit of decision-making [possibilities] in today’s meeting, [so] we could not make any decision on a joint statement or agreement,” he said.
“I would like to stress that our delegation . . . will not stop negotiations. But [further talks] depend on discussing NEC reform.”
