Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh has suggested his party would agree to a coalition government with the CPP as long as it was not headed by his archrival, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen.
But a CPP spokesman on Sunday said Hun Sen’s candidacy for prime minister was not negotiable.
Prince Ranariddh, who was ousted as first prime minister last year on Hun Sen’s initiative, told the Voice of America last week he could not work with his former co-premier.
“Funcinpec could not join a coalition government with Hun Sen. To do that would mean betraying the will of the people who voted for us and do not want Funcinpec to join a coalition, especially a coalition led by Hun Sen,” the prince said Thursday.
He suggested, however, that mediation talks hosted by his father, King Norodom Sihanouk, might yield a coalition with a CPP prime minister other than Hun Sen.
“The King could appoint a neutral prime minister in order to form a government,” he said.
Prince Ranariddh’s remarks are one of the first public indications of what Funcinpec might bring to the bargaining table in negotiations with the CPP to form a new government.
His views were echoed, also on VOA, by his opposition ally Sam Rainsy.
“We can’t accept Hun Sen as a leader anymore,” Sam Rainsy said Friday. “I am appealing to the CPP to choose a good member to be its leader in order to cooperate with other parties to form a coalition government.”
CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith on Sunday dismissed any suggestion that Hun Sen be dropped as the party’s candidate for premier.
“We cannot change this. It is a decision of the central committee,” Khieu Kanharith said. “It is strange that the loser dictates terms to the winner.”
Hun Sen himself has scoffed at such talk as an attempt to split the CPP. The party’s discipline and unity, along with what critics call a campaign of low-level intimidation, has been seen as key to its victory over divided opposition parties.
Although the CPP, under a controversial formula used to allocate seats, has 64 seats in the National Assembly—a majority—it cannot form a government without approval of two-thirds of the parliament.
For that, it needs Funcinpec’s support.
Hun Sen has offered a 60-40 power-sharing arrangement with the stipulation that the CPP retain control of five key ministries—interior, defense, finance, foreign affairs and justice.
But Prince Ranariddh and his party have balked, insisting they will not agree to a coalition until they are satisfied with investigations into allegations of election fraud.
Cambodia’s Constitution does not address what happens if no party can muster the two-thirds support to form a government. All sides have said they welcome mediation by King Sihanouk.
No formal request for talks has been made yet, as Funcinpec and its opposition ally, the Sam Rainsy Party, continue to contest the election results.
