Candlelight Party

Candlelight Party
គណបក្សភ្លើងទៀន
Leader Teav Vannol
Founder Sam Rainsy
Founded June 1995 (1995-06)
Headquarters Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Ideology Khmer nationalism
Liberalism
Liberal democracy
Populism
Political position Centre
Regional affiliation Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
International affiliation Liberal International
Slogan Integrity, Truth, Justice
Website
Sam Rainsy campaign bus during the 2008 election

The Candlelight Party (Khmer: គណបក្សភ្លើងទៀន Konabaksa Phleungtien)[1] 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 history

General election

Election Leader Votes Seats Position Government
# % ± # ±
1998 Sam Rainsy 699,665 14.3 Increase14.3
15 / 122
 Increase15 Increase 3rd CPP–FUNCINPEC
2003 Sam Rainsy 1,130,423 21.9 Increase7.6
24 / 123
 Increase9 Steady 3rd CPP–FUNCINPEC
2008 Sam Rainsy 1,316,714 21.9 Steady
26 / 123
 Increase2 Increase 2nd CPP–FUNCINPEC

Communal elections

Election Leader Votes Communes Councillors Position
# % ± # ± # ±
2002 Sam Rainsy 736,454 16.9 Increase16.9
13 / 1,621
 Increase13
1,329 / 11,261
 Increase1,329 Increase 3rd
2007 Sam Rainsy 1,303,906 25.2 Increase8.3
28 / 1,621
 Increase15
2,660 / 11,353
 Increase1,331 Increase 2nd
2012 Sam Rainsy 1,224,460 20.6 Decrease4.6
22 / 1,633
 Decrease6
2,155 / 11,459
 Decrease505 Steady 2nd

Senate elections

Election Leader Votes Seats Position Outcome
# % ± # ±
2006 Kong Korm 1,165 10.3 Increase10.3
2 / 57
 Decrease5 Steady 3rd Minority
2012 Kong Korm 2,503 21.9 Increase11.6
11 / 57
 Increase9 Increase 2nd Minority

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Candlelight Party amends statue in Congress". Khmer Times. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Cambodia Prisoner of Conscience Tuot Saron" (PDF). Amnesty International. September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 December 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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