If you believe in destiny, take A Look at Cambodia’s Minor Parties
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 19:26:30 -0700 (PDT)
A Look at Cambodia’s Minor Parties
Written by Sebastian Strangio & Nguon Sovan
Friday, 30 May 2008
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
.
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