Cambodian Prince Ranariddh to form new party

Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh told local media by phone from France late on Wednesday that he plans to create a new political party to participate in the commune election starting on April 1, 2007 as well as the next general election in 2008.

"A new political party will occur in the upcoming months," said the prince, who is now on a teaching journey in France.

Ranariddh was ousted as president of the co-ruling Funcinpec Party here on Wednesday, due to the party members' dissatisfaction with his long overseas stay and unwillingness to cooperate with Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Keo Puth Rasmey, 54, his younger brother-in-law, replaced him.

"I name the new political party after my name as Norodom Ranariddh Party, because in Cambodia, law is on the mouth of individuals," he told VOA (Voice of America) and Radio Free Asia reporters in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.

The new party will be an opposition party, because Funcinpec's current leaders are in alliance with the major ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) while the Sam Rainsy Party also shares power with CPP led by Hun Sen, he said.

On Wednesday, in addition to Rasmey's appointment, Minister of Rural Development Lu Lay Sreng was elected as the first vice- president; Prince Sisowath Sirirath, who was former Minister of Defense and former Ambassador to the United Nations, as second vice president; Nhiek Bun Chhay re-elected as secretary general; and Ranariddh appointed as historic president of the party.

Hun Sen and other major CPP leaders have congratulated the election of new leaders of Funcinpec.

Ranariddh rejected the title of historic president and prepared to file a lawsuit against Nhiek Bun Chhay for breaking the party's by-law to convene the election.

Royalist Funcipec was established by Sihanouk in 1980 to fight against the Vietnamese troops. It won the general election in 1993 to form the kingdom's first democratic government, under which Ranariddh was First Prime Minister and Hun Sen the second. In 1997, the prince was removed from his position in a coup engineered by Hun Sen, who in 1998 won the election and headed the cabinet ever since.

Source: Xinhua