Parties' re-array marks Cambodia's political scenario in 2006

The re-array of Cambodia's major parties took the limelight of the Top 10 National Political Stories in 2006, which was charted by one of the kingdom's major Chinese newspapers Sin
Chew Daily on Thursday.

Story No. 1 went to the Cambodian People's Party's (CPP) harvest of more than two thirds of the 57 election seats at the Senate on Jan. 29.
Through polling, CPP gained 45 seats, the co-ruling Funcinpec Party 10 and the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) two, which again beefed up CPP's muscle as the kingdom's largest and most powerful political party.

Story No. 2 outlined Prime Minister Hun Sen's acceptance on Jan. 24 of SRP top leader Sam Rainsy's apology for his previous allegation that the prime minister masterminded an explosion in 1997 in front of the National Assembly, which resulted in the death and injury of dozens of people. Their compromise led to an end of Sam Rainsy's exile to France. Later, he returned to Cambodia and built his party into the largest opposition force in the kingdom's political arena.

Story No. 3 highlighted Hun Sen's cancellation on March 3 of the positions of co-minister of defense and co-minister of interior in order to improve efficiency.
The decision was widely viewed as a cut-down of Funcinpec's power in the government and in another sense as a new augmentation of CPP's political influence.

Story No. 4 illustrated the swearing-in of the 27 judges and prosecutors of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) on July 3.
The team is expected to hold trials of the former Democratic Kampuchea (DK) leaders, which will take three years and cost 56.3 million U.S. dollars.

Story No. 5 marked the death of Ta Mok, one of the top leaders of DK, on July 21 at the age of 83 due to multi ailments.

The establishment of the Anti-Corruption Authority (ACA) earlier this year stood as Top Story No. 6 on the chart. People pinned some hope on the authority to help reverse the negative image of the country. Cambodia was ranked 130 in the 2005 Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International, where a list of 158 countries was outlined and the least corrupt one was placed first.

The National Election Committee's (NEC) inauguration of the commune councils election on Oct. 1 stood as Top Story No. 7 on the chart.
Village chiefs, deputy village chiefs and villagers will join this election. It will end up on May 23, 2007 and serves as prelude to the general election in 2008, which will produce a new government for the country.

Top Stories No. 8, 9 and 10 on the chart once again related to the re-array of the countries' political forces.
The Funcinpec party elected former King Norodom Sihanouk's son- in-law Keo Puth Rasmey as its new president on Oct. 18 to replace Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who formed another party named after himself on Nov. 17 to serve as an opposition power.
The chart recorded the bloodless but dazzling fighting within and in between the political parties here and then in 2006, as the Kingdom of Cambodia prepares to terminate its third government and expects its fourth one year later.

Source: Xinhua