The National Assembly will vote this week on a proposal to reform the National Election Committee (NEC) to make it a constitutional institution, a key prerequisite of the deal that ended the country’s political deadlock.

A press release issued on Friday by the National Assembly’s General Secretariat listed “proposals of draft laws related to electoral reform” as one of several agendas up for debate when parliament sits on Wednesday.

Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmaker Eng Chhay Eang said the new NEC would be a constitutionally mandated body that would differ from the current NEC because “it will need to have a consensus between the CPP and CNRP”.

“I think that when the bill is passed it will improve the electoral environment,” Chhay Eng said, adding that he hoped it would go through without “any problem”.

Ruling party lawmaker Chheang Vun said the principle of both parties was “to improve the process of democracy and power of the people”.