SRP President Sam Rainsy at a press conference Thursday following the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change with the Human Rights Party. Photo by: Tracey SheltonMonday, 19 January 2009
Written by Brett Worthington and Neth Pheaktra
The Phnom Penh Post
Opposition parties are confident recent political collaboration will yield electoral success, but analysts say past mergers have foundered on personal ambition.
THE recent series of political party collaborations has raised opposition hopes of a successful challenge to the ruling Cambodian People's Party, but some political analysts are divided as to the likely success of new political alliances, saying the track record of the Kingdom's political opposition has been marked more by division than by unity.
The overwhelming success of the CPP in last July's national election, in addition to a steady trickle of opposition defections, have been the catalysts for the recent collaborations, which have seen the Sam Rainsy Party and Human Rights Party (HRP) agree to join forces as the Democratic Movement for Change (DMC), and the royalist Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) and Funcinpec agree to realign following a disastrous showing in last year's election.
Personal conflicts
But even though opposition allainces have occurred sporadically, analysts said they often foundered on the personal conflicts between party leaders.
Koul Panha, executive director of election watchdog Comfrel, said that personal ambition, bolstered by false estimates of support produced by local party operatives, often left leaders reluctant to negotiate with other parties.
"Some leaders of small parties don't learn from their experiences of division," he said. "They don't look [at] the political evolution. Every party is weak at studying the information they receive from their local activists, which sometimes is untrue."
Independent analyst Chea Vannath said a united opposition would be better placed to take on the CPP, but said the DMC would prove more successful than the dwindling royalist bloc.
"If they work hard for the next four years, until the next election, there is a definite chance [the DMC] will take more seats," she said, adding that Funcinpec and the NRP had more serious issues they needed to "work out" before they could mount a fresh political challenge.
A fresh start
But Kem Sokha, president of the HRP, said that the opposition had learned from the divisiveness of the past, and that common points of principle would ensure a fruitful partnership between his party and the SRP.
"We signed the joint statement for the DMC because we need to change. If you cannot mobilise, then you cannot change, we have learned that from our experience," he said.
Speaking Thursday after signing the colloboration agreement with Kem Sokha Thursday, SRP President Sam Rainsy said the decision to unite both parties happened "the very day after the legislative election," saying it was now time for both parties to work together to ensure change can come to Cambodia.
He added also that Funcinpec's dependence on CPP patronage would hamstring its efforts to form an effective opposition bloc with the NRP, saying that "we [the SRP and HRP] have the same principles and the same goals. We are independent, but Funcinpec are not independent.
They are close with the ruling party and they have their own interests."
NRP spokesman Suth Dina said, however, that his party's priority was to ensure electoral success at May's council elections, and that a merger with Funcinpec was likely to follow in its wake.
"Our priority is to cooperate to win seats at [May's] council elections," he said Sunday. "The merger of the royalist parties is the next step."
Koul Panha observed that historically, opposition parties have rallied together after elections to protest the legitimacy of the outcome - a position occupied by the CPP following Funcinpec's electoral victory in 1993. But he said it often takes a major electoral defeat - and a recognition of the true extent of a party's electoral support - to force opposition leaders into close alliances.
"After the election, [parties] recognised their weakness because the results they expected were not real," he said. "Now, they clearly know the [extent of their] political support," he said.
THE recent series of political party collaborations has raised opposition hopes of a successful challenge to the ruling Cambodian People's Party, but some political analysts are divided as to the likely success of new political alliances, saying the track record of the Kingdom's political opposition has been marked more by division than by unity.
The overwhelming success of the CPP in last July's national election, in addition to a steady trickle of opposition defections, have been the catalysts for the recent collaborations, which have seen the Sam Rainsy Party and Human Rights Party (HRP) agree to join forces as the Democratic Movement for Change (DMC), and the royalist Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) and Funcinpec agree to realign following a disastrous showing in last year's election.
Personal conflicts
But even though opposition allainces have occurred sporadically, analysts said they often foundered on the personal conflicts between party leaders.
Koul Panha, executive director of election watchdog Comfrel, said that personal ambition, bolstered by false estimates of support produced by local party operatives, often left leaders reluctant to negotiate with other parties.
"Some leaders of small parties don't learn from their experiences of division," he said. "They don't look [at] the political evolution. Every party is weak at studying the information they receive from their local activists, which sometimes is untrue."
Independent analyst Chea Vannath said a united opposition would be better placed to take on the CPP, but said the DMC would prove more successful than the dwindling royalist bloc.
"If they work hard for the next four years, until the next election, there is a definite chance [the DMC] will take more seats," she said, adding that Funcinpec and the NRP had more serious issues they needed to "work out" before they could mount a fresh political challenge.
A fresh start
But Kem Sokha, president of the HRP, said that the opposition had learned from the divisiveness of the past, and that common points of principle would ensure a fruitful partnership between his party and the SRP.
"We signed the joint statement for the DMC because we need to change. If you cannot mobilise, then you cannot change, we have learned that from our experience," he said.
Speaking Thursday after signing the colloboration agreement with Kem Sokha Thursday, SRP President Sam Rainsy said the decision to unite both parties happened "the very day after the legislative election," saying it was now time for both parties to work together to ensure change can come to Cambodia.
He added also that Funcinpec's dependence on CPP patronage would hamstring its efforts to form an effective opposition bloc with the NRP, saying that "we [the SRP and HRP] have the same principles and the same goals. We are independent, but Funcinpec are not independent.
They are close with the ruling party and they have their own interests."
NRP spokesman Suth Dina said, however, that his party's priority was to ensure electoral success at May's council elections, and that a merger with Funcinpec was likely to follow in its wake.
"Our priority is to cooperate to win seats at [May's] council elections," he said Sunday. "The merger of the royalist parties is the next step."
Koul Panha observed that historically, opposition parties have rallied together after elections to protest the legitimacy of the outcome - a position occupied by the CPP following Funcinpec's electoral victory in 1993. But he said it often takes a major electoral defeat - and a recognition of the true extent of a party's electoral support - to force opposition leaders into close alliances.
"After the election, [parties] recognised their weakness because the results they expected were not real," he said. "Now, they clearly know the [extent of their] political support," he said.
9 comments:
that's politik when there are rising popular figures against the current regime, cipiii will buy those figures out or worse assassinate them!
however it is noteworthy to say that so far srp shows strong, and committed stance toward alliance. srp gain more and more trust from its followers and sympathizer in the context of cambodia politics. anyone can imagine how prince ranarith cheated the alliance not one but more if he has chances? Also it is noteworthy to say that F'pec fell down to its knee since the party leadership and key figures all were bought out by cipii and this was caused by non-discipline, disloyal to its core fundamental policies of party and show little/no care and support for its followers.
if ever opposition does not fall into "dirty traps", and show strong and effective leadership and with important loyal popular figures in the party, opposition will have a high probility of winning the current gov.t.
Now that the NRP and FUNCINPEC is back together, it is over for Ah Scam Rainxy, Yahooooo!
Opposing force needs grass root movement to change more than ever.Opposing leadership has to transfer role and responsibility to new blood.Personal cult and clique has to be abandonned soon.
Caution though,campaign should avoid racial hate propaganda but people unity empowerment across the board.
Opposing force needs grass root movement to change more than ever.Opposing leadership has to transfer role and responsibility to new blood.Personal cult and clique has to be abandonned soon.
Caution though,campaign should avoid racial hate propaganda but people unity empowerment across the board.
These stupid moron racist Sam Otsy and Kem Sokroy should re-name their party to SKRP(Sam and Kem Racist Party. I wonder what's happen to Mu Kagnchar. May be making coffee for Sam and Kem now.
the way i see it, all these smaller parties are more like an activist than a major opponent political group. however, unless they all united to form one opponent party, they will have no chance against the overwhelmingly majority party, the cpp of cambodia. that said, however, doesn't mean this newly formed party is fighting with the cpp; it just mean it will give the "dmc" a stronger voice or louder voice on the national stage when they can unite into one opponent party. of course, they still have to work cooperatively with the cpp when they lost the election, but at least they have a better chance in gaining more seats in the parliament, which is always a good sign. good luck and god bless cambodia.
SRP and HRP might work, both parties have RP in their names. I hope that Kem Soka does not use Sam Rainsy as a steping stone for the CCP because I heard a rumor at the formation of the HRP that Kem Soka is a CCP agent. Hun Sen uses Kem Soka to break up the SRP internal. If SRP is gone, Cambodia is heading for dictatorship like Fidel Castro, Marcos in the Phillipine and Sadam Huesen in Iraq. That would be a disaster for Cambodia.
3:03 AM
The rumour was spread by cpp's agents to undermine Khem Sokha's credibility and reputation amongst the Khmer democrats and the SRP supporters, think hard my friends, the CPP has more to gain by misinformation. They even sent some of their police to protect the HRP's opening congress. This was to fool the politically unsophisticated Khmer public and opposition leaders. If we are continually believing the here say without hard evidence, then the CPP will succeed in destabilizing the oppositions at will. Don't believe our eyes and ears, what we see and hear is deceptive we must use our head to analyse the visual effects.
KNM
No way, Jose (3:03), RP (Retarted People) will never work.
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