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| Ranariddh (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post) |
By Sebastian Strangio
The Diplomat
Former Cambodian Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh is coming out of retirement. But will he be able to recapture his glory days?
Last month, former Cambodian Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh announced his return to political life after two years of quiet retirement. Speaking to a small gathering of supporters in rural Kampong Cham Province, the 66-year-old prince—a son of Cambodia’s mercurial former King Norodom Sihanouk—promised to breathe new life into the country’s downtrodden and divided royalist movement.
Coming at a time of overwhelming dominance by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which holds 90 of the 123 seats in the country’s National Assembly, the move seemed more than a little quixotic. When he retired in October 2008, Prince Ranariddh’s political capital seemed all but spent: expelled from his former party Funcinpec over accusations of embezzling party funds, his breakaway royalist faction, the Norodom Ranariddh Party, performed poorly in that year’s elections, winning just two seats. (Funcinpec, once a powerhouse of Cambodian politics, won another two).
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Last month, former Cambodian Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh announced his return to political life after two years of quiet retirement. Speaking to a small gathering of supporters in rural Kampong Cham Province, the 66-year-old prince—a son of Cambodia’s mercurial former King Norodom Sihanouk—promised to breathe new life into the country’s downtrodden and divided royalist movement.
Coming at a time of overwhelming dominance by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which holds 90 of the 123 seats in the country’s National Assembly, the move seemed more than a little quixotic. When he retired in October 2008, Prince Ranariddh’s political capital seemed all but spent: expelled from his former party Funcinpec over accusations of embezzling party funds, his breakaway royalist faction, the Norodom Ranariddh Party, performed poorly in that year’s elections, winning just two seats. (Funcinpec, once a powerhouse of Cambodian politics, won another two).
Please click here to read more...
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