Though the two parties once marched together in solidarity against the results of the 1998 elections, Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh on Tuesday said the Sam Rainsy Party, not the ruling CPP, was to blame for the royalists’ election loss.
Speaking at his party’s annual congress and celebration of its 20th anniversary, Prince Ranariddh said “the 1998 election showed us that the CPP did not vie for votes from Funcinpec.”
“In fact, Funcinpec lost most votes because of the Sam Rainsy Party and other parties whose leaders are renegades from Funcinpec,” Prince Ranariddh said.
CPP officially won the July 1998 election, but without the two-thirds majority needed as a mandate to form its own government. Funcinpec and opposition leader Sam Rainsy, a former royalist, cried foul and refused to recognize the election results, preventing a government from being formed for months.
Prince Ranariddh told Funcinpec members that the party should be prepared to be a part of the next coalition government as one of the main partners or leaders.
“It’s necessary that we have to maintain better communication with CPP and be careful of the Sam Rainsy Party,” he said. “But Funcinpec cannot accept any kind of threat to the party.”
As evidence of the strong partnership, CPP members Prime Minister Hun Sen, Minister of Cabinet Sok An and CPP Cabinet Chief Tep Ngorn are scheduled to attend the Funcinpec congress today, according to Funcinpec Deputy Secretary General Serey Kosal.
Indeed, closer ties with the CPP was one of the main themes Tuesday, with banners at Funcinpec party headquarters that read, “Long live the cooperation between Funcinpec and CPP.”
Some observers say that attitude has made the royalists weak and complacent, content to be the No 2 party.
But Prince Ranariddh said if Funcinpec hadn’t joined the government and continued as an opposition party, the CPP would have ruled the country on its own.
“If Funcinpec did not have reconciliation according to King Norodom Sihanouk’s advice, then Funcinpec would not have had the possibility of joining in leading, rebuilding and developing the country,” he said.
And if the royalists hadn’t joined the government, Funcinpec couldn’t have protected its members who were exiled because of their roles in the factional fighting that broke out between forces loyal to Funcinpec and CPP.
Prince Ranariddh added that the criticisms of Funcinpec were unfair, because the royalist party was forced to make numerous sacrifices for its homeland.
“Saying I betrayed my true word and promises during the election is very unjust because what Funcinpec and I did was provide to the motherland peace and national reconciliation,” he said.
Phi Thach, cabinet chief of the Sam Rainsy Party, said Tuesday that Funcinpec has its way of conducting politics and the opposition party has another way.
“We have different understandings of the meaning of reconciliation,” Phi Thach said.
Tep Ngorn acknowledged it was strange that a top government official and high-ranking CPP member like Hun Sen is attending the Funcinpec congress. But he also said it was exciting.
“It makes the people from both parties and in the government to work closely, be friendly and cooperate in the future in the next government,” he said.
Though Prince Ranariddh predicted a win for the party, he said Funcinpec’s success in both the commune elections next year and in the general elections in 2003 depends on cooperation with CPP.
Funcinpec would like to win a two-third majority in the next national elections, giving the royalists the mandate to form a government under its leadership, secretary general Tol Lah said in an interview Monday.
But given the state of Cambodia today, the idea of Funcinpec ruling on its own is not a realistic possibility, nor is it a desired scenario, Tol Lah said .
“Of course we would like to win, but first you have to look at the atmosphere of the country, how educated people are and how much they respect the political system,” he said.
The first coalition government was established after the UN-sponsored elections in 1993, when Funcinpec won the race, but established a partnership with CPP, which protested the elections results.
But the coalition wasn’t strong enough to prevent a power struggle, which culminated in the 1997 fighting that left Funcinpec devastated, with little time to organize before the 1998 vote.
In the second coalition government, the terms of the partnership were made more clear with a protocol of agreement, detailing the relationship, Tol Lah said.
There is also a national committee on reconciliation, co-chaired by Tol Lah and co-Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, a member of the CPP standing committee. Similar reconciliation committees exist at the provincial and district levels to resolve disputes between CPP and Funcinpec members.
“To a certain degree, the ‘97 fighting is still with us,” Tol Lah said. “And even though there are difficulties among CPP and Funcinpec, I think cooperation should continue because the two parties are going to need each other for quite some time. We learned from recent history that bickering between Funcinpec and the CPP will not help Cambodia win.”
