Cambodia: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: King Norodom Sihamoni
Head of Government: Prime Minister Hun Sen

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy, and its constitution provides for a multiparty democracy. The Royal Government of Cambodia, formed on the basis of elections internationally recognized as free and fair, was established on September 24, 1993.

The executive branch comprises the king, who is head of state; an appointed prime minister; 10 deputy prime ministers, 16 senior ministers, 26 ministers, 206 secretaries of state, and 205 undersecretaries of state. The bicameral legislature consists of a 123-member elected National Assembly and a 61-member Senate. The judiciary includes a Supreme Court, lower courts, and an internationalized court with jurisdiction over the serious crimes of the Khmer Rouge era. Administrative subdivisions are 23 provinces and 1 municipality.

While the post-1993 period was relatively stable in comparison to the previous decades, political violence continued to be a problem through the 1990s. In 1997, factional fighting between supporters of Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen broke out, resulting in more than 100 FUNCINPEC deaths and a few Cambodian People's Party (CPP) casualties. Some FUNCINPEC leaders were forced to flee the country, and Hun Sen took over as Prime Minister. FUNCINPEC leaders returned to Cambodia shortly before the 1998 National Assembly elections. In those elections, the CPP received 41% of the vote, FUNCINPEC 32%, and the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) 13%. Due to political violence, intimidation, and lack of media access, many international observers judged the elections to have been seriously flawed. The CPP and FUNCINPEC formed another coalition government, with CPP the senior partner. Cambodia's first commune elections, held in February 2002 to select chiefs and members of 1,621 commune (municipality) councils, also were marred by political violence and fell short of being free and fair by international standards.

National Assembly elections in July 2003 failed to give any one party the two-thirds majority of seats required under the constitution to form a government. A political stalemate ensued which was not resolved until July 2004, when the National Assembly approved a controversial addendum to the constitution in order to require a vote on a new government. The National Assembly then approved a new coalition government comprised of the CPP and FUNCINPEC, with Hun Sen as Prime Minister and Prince Norodom Ranariddh as President of the National Assembly. The SRP, with support from various non-governmental organizations (NGOs), asserted the addendum was unconstitutional and boycotted the vote.

On October 7, 2004, King Sihanouk abdicated the throne due to illness. On October 14, the Cambodian Throne Council selected Prince Norodom Sihamoni to succeed Sihanouk as King. King Norodom Sihamoni officially ascended the throne in a coronation ceremony on October 29, 2004.

In February 2005, the National Assembly voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of three opposition parliamentarians, including SRP leader Sam Rainsy, in connection with lawsuits filed against them by members of the ruling parties. One of the parliamentarians, Cheam Channy, was arrested and later tried, while Sam Rainsy went into self-imposed exile. In October 2005, the government arrested critics of Cambodia's border treaties with Vietnam and later detained four human rights activists following International Human Rights Day in December. In January 2006, the political climate improved with the Prime Minister's decision to release all political detainees and permit Sam Rainsy's return to Cambodia.

Following public criticism by Hun Sen, Prince Ranariddh resigned as President of the National Assembly in March 2006. He later broke with FUNCINPEC and founded a new party, the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP). In 2007, Ranariddh was convicted of corruption by a Cambodian court and fled to Malaysia to avoid imprisonment. In October 2008, he received a royal pardon and returned to Cambodia. Shortly afterward, he announced that he was withdrawing from politics. However, in December 2010 Ranariddh announced plans to re-enter politics, and the Nationalist Party reverted to its former name, the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP), with Ranariddh as its leader.

Cambodia's second commune elections were held in April 2007, followed by National Assembly elections in July 2008. In both cases, there was little of the pre-election violence that preceded the 2002 and 2003 elections. Both polls resulted in victories for the Cambodian People's Party, with the Sam Rainsy Party emerging as the main opposition party and the royalist parties showing weakening support. The Assembly inaugurated in September 2008 is led by a coalition of the CPP (90 seats) and FUNCINPEC (2 seats). The SRP (26 seats) and the Human Rights Party led by Kem Sokha (3 seats) are in opposition. The NRP (2 seats) has announced its intention to merge with FUNCINPEC by 2012. The CPP-led coalition retained Hun Sen as Prime Minister, as well as most of the key leaders from the previous government, and all ministers are from the CPP. In May 2009, non-universal elections were held when commune council members chose representatives to district councils, city councils, and provincial councils, which would have administrative and budgetary powers at the local level.

In 2009, the CPP-dominated parliament voted again to lift the parliamentary immunity of three members of the opposition, including Sam Rainsy, in order to allow civil or criminal charges to be pursued. Sam Rainsy was convicted in absentia and sentenced to tenyears prison in January 2010 for his role in the removal of several temporary border markers on the Cambodia-Vietnam border, along with making statements deemed racially incendiary. He remains outside the country. A second SRP member was convicted of defaming the Prime Minister; after refusing to pay the court-ordered fine and exhausting all appeals, the court ordered the lawmaker’s salary garnished to pay the fine, a process which concluded in December 2010. The member began advocating for restoration of parliamentary immunity in January 2011. A third SRP member was ultimately acquitted on all charges.

The 1993 constitution provides for a wide range of internationally recognized human rights, including freedom of the press. While freedom of the press has improved markedly in Cambodia since the adoption of the constitution, limitations still exist on mass media. Much of the written press, while considered largely free, has ties to individual political parties or factions and does not seek to provide objective reporting or analysis. Cambodia has an estimated 25 Khmer-language newspapers that are published regularly. Of these, eight are published daily; three opposition papers are published regularly and two of these are daily publications. There are two major English-language newspapers, two of which are dailies. Broadcast media, in contrast to print, is more closely controlled. It tends to be politically affiliated with the CPP, and access for opposition parties is extremely limited.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Cambodia has established diplomatic relations with most countries, including the United States. The country is a member of most major international organizations, including the UN and its specialized agencies, and became a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1998.

Cambodia is a member of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). On October 13, 2004, Cambodia became the 148th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

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