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Ranariddh was Cambodia’s co-prime minister for four years in an uneasy power-sharing arrangement with current Prime Minister Hun Sen after his party won a United Nations-organised election in 1993. His party’s popularity was largely due to its royalist credentials, although Ranariddh’s personal relations with his popular father were often strained.
Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh last year.
Photo: AP
He was ousted in July 1997 and then fled abroad when long-simmering tensions between him and Hun Sen exploded into two days of bitter fighting in Phnom Penh between his forces and those loyal to Hun Sen.
Ranariddh was allowed to return to contest elections the following year but failed to repeat his success at the ballot. He slid into political irrelevancy, as FUNCINPEC became co-opted by Hun Sen, a much more savvy and tougher politician than Ranariddh.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Photo: AP
Ranariddh is currently president of the party. It holds 41 seats in the National Assembly, but only because seats held by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party were distributed to other parties after CNRP was dissolved.
The dissolution was widely seen as a maneuver to ensure an easy victory for Hun Sen in next month’s general election, with parties contesting the polls generally seen as hopelessly weak or fronting for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party so it can claim it ran a fair race by allowing opposition candidates.
Onlookers stand around the mangled wreckage of Cambodia’s Prince Norodom Ranariddh’s car.
Photo: AP
Ranariddh is also president of the Supreme Privy Advisory Council to King Norodom Sihamoni, his half-brother.
Ouk Phalla, a classical Cambodian dancer reported to be descended from a separate royal family branch, was Ranariddh’s second wife.
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