Ranariddh launches new royalist party in Cambodia

Prince Norodom Ranariddh, a son of the late King Norodom Sihanouk, officially launched a new royalist political party Friday, saying the move is to "restore and reunite" royalists.

At the launch of the Community of Royalist People's Party, the prince said, "The CRPP is set up in order to mobilize royalists, to protect royalists and to serve the nation."

The 70-year-old prince decided to come back to politics early this year. He had retired in 2012.

Talking to his supporters, the prince said he had been waiting for almost a year to see if the two major parties can settle their differences, but they have remained at loggerheads with the opposition boycotting all sessions of parliament since September last year.

Ranariddh registered his new party in March and it was officially recognized last month.

Ranariddh, who once headed the royalist FUNCINPEC party, announced his resignation from politics in August 2012 and had been supreme privy councilor to King Norodom Sihamoni, his half brother, since then.

He was "first prime minister" in a dual-premier, power-sharing arrangement with Hun Sen after the 1993 general election, only to be ousted by the latter in a bloody coup in 1997.

In 2006, he was toppled as FUNCINPEC leader, prompting a split in the party.

His self-named party won only two assembly seats in the 2008 election.

==Kyodo

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/140606/ranariddh-launches-new-royalist-party-cambodia