Cambodian People's Party in the context of "FUNCINPEC"

Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Mainland Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline along the Gulf of Thailand in the southwest. It spans an area of 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 square miles), dominated by a low-lying plain and the confluence of the Mekong river and Tonlé Sap, Southeast Asia's largest lake. It is dominated by a tropical climate. Cambodia has a population of about 17 million people, the majority of which are ethnically Khmer. Its capital and most populous city is Phnom Penh, followed by Siem Reap and Battambang.

In 802 AD, Jayavarman II declared himself king, uniting the warring Khmer princes of Chenla under the name "Kambuja". This marked the beginning of the Khmer Empire. The Indianised kingdom facilitated the spread of first Hinduism and then Buddhism to Southeast Asia and undertook religious infrastructural projects throughout the region, the most famous of which is Angkor Wat. In the 15th century, it began a decline in power until, in 1863, Cambodia became a French protectorate. Following Japanese occupation during World War II, Cambodia declared independence from France in 1953. The Vietnam War embroiled the country in civil war during the 1960s, culminating in a 1970 coup which installed the US-aligned Khmer Republic and the takeover of the communist Khmer Rouge in 1975. The Khmer Rouge ruled the country and carried out the Cambodian genocide from 1975 until 1979, until they were ousted during the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. Peace was restored by the 1991 Paris Peace Accords and subsequent United Nations peacekeeping mission, establishing a new constitution, holding the 1993 general election, and ending long-term insurgencies. The 1997 coup d'état consolidated power under Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian People's Party (CPP).

General elections were held in Cambodia between 23 and 28 May 1993. The result was a hung parliament with the FUNCINPEC Party being the largest party with 58 seats. Voter turnout was 89.56%. The elections were conducted by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), which also maintained peacekeeping troops in Cambodia throughout the election and the period after it.

As of 2024, the 1993 general elections were the last to be won by a party other than the Cambodian People's Party, which began to dominate Cambodian politics from 1998.

Hun Sen (born 5 August 1952) is a Cambodian politician and former military officer who currently serves as the president of the Senate. He previously served as the prime minister of Cambodia from 1985 to 1993 and from 1998 to 2023. Hun Sen is the longest-serving head of government in Cambodia's history. He is the president of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), which has governed Cambodia since 1979, and has served as a member of the Senate since 2024.

Born Hun Bunal, he changed his name to Hun Sen in 1972, two years after joining the Khmer Rouge as a soldier. He fought for the Khmer Rouge in the Cambodian Civil War and was a battalion commander in Democratic Kampuchea until defecting in 1977 and fighting alongside Vietnamese forces in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. From 1979 to 1986 and again from 1987 to 1990, he served as Cambodia's foreign minister in the puppet government installed by Vietnam. At age 26, he was also the world's youngest foreign minister.

The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), also known as the Khmer Communist Party, was a communist party in Kampuchea. Its leader was Pol Pot, and its members were generally known as the Khmer Rouge. Originally founded in 1951, the party was split into pro-Chinese and pro-Soviet factions as a result of the Sino–Soviet split with the former led by the Pol Pot faction and the latter aligned with the Soviet Union which the Pol Pot faction denounced as revisionist. As such, it claimed that 30 September 1960 was its founding date; it was named the Workers' Party of Kampuchea before it was renamed the Communist Party in 1966.

The party operated underground for most of its existence, and it took control of the country in April 1975, establishing the state known as Democratic Kampuchea. The party retained control until 1979 when the intervention of Vietnamese military forces led to the establishment of the People's Republic of Kampuchea. The party was officially dissolved in 1981, after which the Khmer Rouge remnants reorganized under the Party of Democratic Kampuchea, claiming to continue its legacy.

After decades of conflict, Cambodia's current form of government began in 1993 with the restoration of the monarchy and end of the State of Cambodia and the United Nations Transitional Authority after general elections were held. Since 1993, the Cambodian People's Party have consistently been in government, and consolidated power in a 1997 coup d'état. Hun Sen was prime minister until transfer of power to his son, Hun Manet, in 2023.

The politics of Cambodia are defined within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the king serves as the head of state, and the prime minister is the head of government. In practice, Cambodia is an authoritarian state, as power is centralized in the hands of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) under leader Hun Manet. Civil society groups, independent media and opposition parties are repressed, and elections are not free and fair.

The collapse of communism set in motion events that led to the withdrawal of the Vietnamese armed forces, which had established their presence in the country since the fall of the Khmer Rouge. The 1993 constitution, which is currently in force, was promulgated as a result of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements, followed by elections organized under the aegis of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia. The constitution declares Cambodia to be an "independent, sovereign, peaceful, permanently neutral and non-aligned country." The constitution also proclaims a liberal, multiparty democracy in which powers are devolved to the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. However, there is no effective opposition to the Prime Minister, a position long held by Hun Sen, from 1984 until 2023, and now held by his son. Their Cambodian People's Party won all 125 seats in the National Assembly in 2018 after the banning of opposition party CNRP and KNLF. KNLF became a main opposition exiled in Denmark after CNRP was dissolved. During the communal election in 2022 and the national election in 2023, there were no international observers. The government is considered to be autocratic.

Norodom Ranariddh (Khmer: នរោត្តម រណឫទ្ធិ; 2 January 1944 – 28 November 2021, UNGEGN: Nôroŭttâm Rôṇârœ̆ddhĭ, ALA-LC: Narottam Raṇaṛddhi [nɔroːɗɑm rĕəʔnaʔrɨt]) was a Cambodian politician and law academic. He was the second son of King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia and a half-brother of King Norodom Sihamoni. Ranariddh was the president of FUNCINPEC, a Cambodian royalist party. He was also the first Prime Minister of Cambodia following the restoration of the monarchy, serving between 1993 and 1997, and subsequently as the President of the National Assembly between 1998 and 2006.

Ranariddh was a graduate of the University of Provence and started his career as a law researcher and lecturer in France. In 1983, he joined FUNCINPEC and in 1986 became the chief of staff and commander-in-chief of Armée nationale sihanoukiste. Ranariddh became Secretary-General of FUNCINPEC in 1989, and its president in 1992. When FUNCINPEC won the 1993 Cambodian general election, it formed a coalition government with the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), which was jointly headed by two concurrently serving prime ministers. Ranariddh became the First Prime Minister of Cambodia while Hun Sen, who was from the CPP, became the Second Prime Minister. As the First Prime Minister, Ranariddh promoted business interests in Cambodia to leaders from regional countries and established the Cambodian Development Council (CDC).

The Senate (Khmer: ព្រឹទ្ធសភា, Pruetsaphea [prɨtsapʰiə]; lit. 'Senatorial Assembly'), formally the Senate of the Kingdom of Cambodia (ព្រឹទ្ធសភានៃព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា), is the upper house of the Parliament of Cambodia. It is a legislative body composed of 62 members. 58 of the Senate seats are elected every six years by the commune councillors from 24 provinces of Cambodia and members of the National Assembly. In addition, the King nominates two senators, and the National Assembly nominates two, ending with a total of 62 senators. The Senate performs its duties as determined in the constitution and law in force. The Senate is chaired and presided by the president, currently Hun Sen of the Cambodian People's Party and assisted by two Vice Presidents.

The first Senate session was held on March 25, 1999, and the first election was held on January 22, 2006. The fifth and current Senate was inaugurated by King Norodom Sihamoni on April 3, 2024.