The two factions battling for control of the Norodom Ranariddh Party appear to have largely sorted out their differences and agreed to once again work as a united party, officials said Tuesday.
The royalist party had splintered late last month over the firing of a NRP board of directors member that was prominent in the Khmer Front faction of the party. In response, Khmer Front supporters took control of the NRP headquarters in Phnom Penh, a move that prompted the established leadership of the party to fire 18 NRP officials tied to the Khmer Front.
But on Monday evening NRP Secretary-General You Hockry and Khmer Front leader Suth Dina met to discuss the widening rift and have resolved to work together once more, said Khmer Front spokesman Kim Sok.
“You Hockry has wanted to find a solution,” Kim Sok said by telephone. “We are working based on the law and party’s statutes to reach a solution. We have received a positive result,” he added.
Kim Sok claimed that the 18 fired officials, including Suth Dina, who served as NRP deputy secretary-general, will be reinstated.
“We will work together; we want to reunite,” he said.
Suth Dina confirmed Kim Sok’s remarks concerning the meeting but declined further comment. You Hockry declined to comment Tuesday.
The move towards cooperation is a stark reversal to what appeared to be an unbridgeable gap between the two sides just hours earlier.
On Monday morning, the Khmer Front faction was calling for a party congress to vote in a new party president and officially change the name of the NRP to the Khmer Front Party.
Mao Sam Oeurn, an NRP board of directors member allied with the Khmer Front faction, said Tuesday that the proposed congress will not be going ahead due to the positive steps the two sides have made toward reconciliation.
