Funcinpec’s ‘new’ National Assembly members have long, chequered past

[geovalin]

Following the redistribution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party’s seats in parliament, 55 new lawmakers entered the National Assembly this week, though for some – particularly within the 41-strong Funcinpec contingent – “new” is hardly the right word.

 

The royalist Funcinpec party had its heyday in the 1990s – it actually won the country’s first democratic elections – when it held dozens of seats in parliament, co-ministerial positions and prominent roles in government around the country through an ill-fated coalition with the Cambodian People’s Party, which did not let losing in 1993 keep it from retaining its “ruling party” status.

 

But over the course of the 1990s and early 2000s, many Funcinpec officials found themselves dogged by infighting and scandals, with the party ultimately slipping into irrelevance. Totally eclipsed by the CPP, it failed to win a single parliamentary seat in 2013 – when the CNRP won 55 – or a single commune in this year’s local elections, when the CNRP took 489.

 

read more http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-politics/funcinpecs-new-national-assembly-members-have-long-chequered-past?

 

-- © Copyright Phenom Pen Post 01/12

[spidermike007]

Like Hun Sen himself, many are no doubt ex-Kymer Rouge generals, or commanders. Like Sen himself, many are probably mass murderers. Cambodia is so far beyond filthy and irredeemable, it is hard to even engage in a discussion about the place. My heart goes out to the people. And much shame falls on the shoulders of the world powers, for continuing to support a false democracy.