Candlelight Party

The Candlelight Party (Khmer: គណបក្សភ្លើងទៀន, Kanakpak Phlerng Tean)[1] is a liberal party in Cambodia. The party was a member of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, Liberal International, and the Alliance of Democrats.

Candlelight Party

គណបក្សភ្លើងទៀន
LeaderTeav Vannol
FounderSam Rainsy
FoundedJune 1995 (1995-06) (Khmer Nation Party)
1998 (1998) (Sam Rainsy Party)
2018 (2018) (Candlelight Party)
HeadquartersPhnom Penh
IdeologyLiberalism
Political positionCentre
Regional affiliationCouncil of Asian Liberals and Democrats
(until 2012)
International affiliationLiberal International
(until 2012)
SloganIntegrity, Truth, Justice
Website
Sam Rainsy campaign bus during the 2008 election

The Candlelight Party, founded in 1995 as the Khmer Nation Party and renamed the Sam Rainsy Party 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 Candlelight Party is now considered the second largest party in Cambodia. It is the largest opposition party in Cambodia.

The 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]

Election results

General election
Election Leader Votes Seats Position Government
# % ± # ±
1998 Sam Rainsy 699,665 14.3 New
15 / 122
 New 3rd CPP–FUNCINPEC
2003 1,130,423 21.9 7.6
24 / 123
 9 3rd CPP–FUNCINPEC
2008 1,316,714 21.9
26 / 123
 2 2nd CPP–FUNCINPEC

Communal elections
Election Leader Votes Communes Councillors Position
# % ± # ± # ±
2002 Sam Rainsy 736,454 16.9 New
13 / 1,621
 New
1,329 / 11,261
 New 3rd
2007 1,303,906 25.2 8.3
28 / 1,621
 15
2,660 / 11,353
 1,331 2nd
2012 1,224,460 20.8 4.4
22 / 1,633
 6
2,155 / 11,459
 505 2nd

Senate elections
Election Leader Votes Seats Position Outcome
# % ± # ±
2006 Kong Korm 1,165 10.3 —
2 / 57
 5 3rd Minority
2012 2,503 21.9 11.6
11 / 57
 9 2nd Minority

See also

References
  1. "Candlelight Party amends statue in Congress". Khmer Times. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  2. "Cambodia Prisoner of Conscience Tuot Saron". Amnesty International. September 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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