A Look at Cambodia’s Minor Parties

Written by Sebastian Strangio & Nguon Sovan

Courtesy of Phnom Penh Post at http://phnompenhpost.com

Hang Dara Democratic Movement Party

Founded: May 2002

President: Hang Dara, 56. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge in January 1979, Dara joined the royalist opposition to the Vietnamese military occupation of Cambodia and was imprisoned in 1988 at Phnom Penh’s T3 prison for his political activism. Between 1993 and 2002 Dara was active in Funcinpec, before entering the Buddhist sangha after the 2003 national elections.

Platform: Support the royalist regime; resettle illegal immigrants; settle border disputes to regain Khmer territory; smash tyrants and corrupt officials; improve Khmer living conditions through extensive access to health and education; eliminate corruption via the adoption of an anti-graft law; promote local produce; and establish inter-ministries to manage oil and gas deposits transparently.

Candidates: 123, in all 24 cities and provinces

Seats expected: 10 to 15

Society of Justice Party

Founded: August 2006

President: Ban Sophal, 51. Served for Funcinpec as the deputy governor of Battambang province in 1993-95 and as undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Cults and Religion in 1997-98. From 1999 to 2004, he was an advisor to assassinated union leader Chea Vichea and is currently an advisor to the Ministry of Interior.

Platform: Promptly amend the Constitutional law to restrict an individual to two terms as prime minister; ensure that political parties cannot arbitrarily dismiss lawmakers; ensure that the courts are independent of any political control; support the royalist regime; resettle illegal immigrants; settle border disputes to regain Khmer territory; eliminate corruption without waiting for the anti-graft law; reduce the inflation rate and manage oil and gas transparently by encouraging Cambodian students to study in countries which are experienced in oil resource management.

Candidates: 46, in Battambang, Kampong Thom, Banteay Meanchey, Phnom Penh, Pursat, Siem Reap, and Kampong Chhnang

Seats Expected: At least one seat in Battambang

League for Democracy Party

Founded: March 2006

President: Khem Veasna, 37. Veasna joined the SRP in 1997 and was an SRP lawmaker in Prey Veng province from 2003 to 2005.Platform: Defend Cambodia’s independence, sovereignty, and territory integrity; create laws and mechanisms to fight corruption; take action against illegal land grabbing; increase salaries of civil servants and soldiers; adjust the school curriculum by adding elements of moral education and national conscience; focus on the development of border and rural areas; crack down on crime and reform the judiciary; limit the prime minister to two terms, and prevent him from creating a personal bodyguard unit and living in a residence provided by the state.

Candidates: 123, in all 24 cities and provinces

Seats expected: At least one seat

Khmer Anti-Poverty Party

Founded: September 2007

President: Daran Kravanh, 51. Born in Pursat province, Kravanh received a degree in anthropology and sociology from Evergreen State College in the US in 1988. After graduating, he worked extensively with widows, orphans, the homeless and the disabled in Tacoma, Washington State.

Platform: The party aims to reduce poverty, protect land titles, fight corruption, increase the salary of the civil service and armed forces and to eliminate deforestation and the depletion of the Kingdom’s natural resources. It also pledges to defend Cambodia’s territorial integrity from the power of any foreign country or tyrant leader, and to create four new ministries: of Anti-Corruption, Job Seeking, Disabled People, and Welfare and Social Work.

Candidates: 120, in all 24 cities and provinces

Seats expected: 41 seats

Khmer Democratic Party

Founded: March 1998

President: Uk Phourik, 63. A former professor of chemistry, Phourik was a founder and deputy president of the KDP from1970 to 1998. Since 1997, he has been an advisor to the government with the rank of minister, a member of the Council of Lawyers at the Council of Ministers, a practicing lawyer and a member of the Bar Association of Cambodia. He is also legal advisor to the supreme patriarch Buo Kry, head of the Buddhist Thommayut sect.

Platform: Comply with the Constitutional law and promote the rule of law; promote respect for democracy and human rights; promote market economic policies and gain the support of national and international financial institutions; promote human resource development, employment and salary increases; fight corruption; eliminate anarchy, terror, thievery, drug and human trafficking and forest crimes; and preserve Cambodia’s cultural heritage and social morality.

Candidates: 123, in all 24 cities and provinces.

Seats expected: Kampong Cham, Phnom Penh, Prey Veng, Kandal

Khmer Republican Party

Founded: March 2005

President: Lon Rith, 46. The eldest son of General Lon Nol, who ruled Cambodia from 1970-1975, Rith has no prior involvement in Cambodian politics. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Fullerton University, California, and is the chairman of the Association of Cambodia-born Americans in Long Beach, California.

Platform: National unification for national independence; reconstruction of the nation; defense of Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity; increases in living standards.

Candidates: 73, in nine provinces: Prey Veng, Kampong Cham, Phnom Penh, Kampong Chhnang, Battambang, Pailin, Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap, Kampong Thom

Seats expected: At least one