Sam Rainsy Party

Sam Rainsy Party
Leader Kong Korm[1]
Founder Sam Rainsy
Founded June 1995
Headquarters Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Ideology Khmer nationalism
Liberal democracy
Populism
Political position Centre
Regional affiliation Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
International affiliation Liberal International
Website
http://www.samrainsyparty.org/
Sam Rainsy campaign bus during the 2008 election

The Sam Rainsy Party (Khmer: គណបក្ស សម រង្ស៊ី; SRP) is a personalist liberal party in Cambodia. The party was a member of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, Liberal International, and the Alliance of Democrats.

The Sam Rainsy Party, founded in 1995 as the Khmer Nation Party and given its current name in 1998, constitutes the official opposition to the ruling Cambodian People's Party. Since the decline of the junior coalition partner, Funcinpec, in the 2008 National Assembly elections, the Sam Rainsy Party is now considered the second largest party in Cambodia. It is the largest opposition party in Cambodia.

The Sam Rainsy Party won 15 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly in the 1998 elections, 24 seats in the 2003 elections, and 26 seats in the 2008 elections with 21% of the vote. The SRP won two seats in the 2006 Senate elections.

In 2009, it formally allied with the Human Rights Party in the Democratic Movement of Change.

In 2008, party activist Tuot Saron was arrested on a charge of "being an accomplice to unlawful confinement".[2] International human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International described the charges as a politically motivated attempt to intimidate other SRP activists.[2][3] Tuot Saron was released on 26 November 2010, following a Royal Pardon decree.[4]

In the 2012 Cambodian Senate elections, the Sam Rainsy Party gained nine new seats in the Senate. Although it merged with the Human Rights Party to form the Cambodia National Rescue Party, it still remains active due to still having seats in the Senate, with Kong Korm as its leader. It will fully integrate into the CNRP and officially disband in the next Senate elections.[5]

Its motto is "Integrity, Truth, Justice".[6]

Electoral performance

National Assembly

Election Total seats won Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Election leader
1998
15 / 122
 699,665 14.3% Increase 15 seats Opposition Sam Rainsy
2003
24 / 123
 1,130,423 21.9% Increase 9 seats Opposition Sam Rainsy
2008
26 / 123
 1,316,714 21.9% Increase 2 seats Opposition Sam Rainsy

Senate

Election Total seats won Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Election leader
2006
2 / 57
 1,165 10.3% Decrease 5 seats Kong Korm
2012
11 / 57
 2,503 21.9% Increase 9 seats Kong Korm

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Kong Korm expects to be new Sam Rainsy Party leader next month". Khmer News. 3 October 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Cambodia Prisoner of Conscience Tuot Saron" (PDF). Amnesty International. September 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  3. ↑ "Cambodia: Opposition Officials Arrested to Sway Elections". Human Rights Watch. 23 March 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  4. ↑ "Tout Saron, SRP activist and Amnesty Int'l "Prisoner of Conscience", finally released from jail". Cambodian Today. 15 December 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  5. ↑ "Changes at Human Rights Party". The Phnom Penh Post. 1 April 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  6. ↑ http://www.samrainsyparty.org/en/
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