Candlelight Party
Candlelight Party គណបក្សភ្លើងទៀន | |
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Leader | Thach Setha |
Founder | Sam Rainsy |
Founded | 1995 |
Headquarters | Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
Ideology | Liberalism |
Political position | Centre |
Regional affiliation | Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (until 2012) |
International affiliation | Liberal International (until 2012) |
Slogan | Integrity, Truth, Justice |
Website | |
[1] | |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Elections_40365_02072008.jpg/200px-Elections_40365_02072008.jpg)
The Candlelight Party (Khmer: គណបក្សភ្លើងទៀន)[1] is a liberal party in Cambodia. The party was a member of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, Liberal International, and the Alliance of Democrats.
The party, founded in 1995 as the Khmer Nation Party and renamed the Sam Rainsy Party in 1998, constitutes the official opposition to the ruling Cambodian People's Party. Since the decline of the junior coalition partner, FUNCINPEC, in the 2008 National Assembly elections, the Candlelight Party is now considered the second largest party in Cambodia. It is the largest opposition party in Cambodia.
The party won 15 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly in the 1998 elections, 24 seats in the 2003 elections, and 26 seats in the 2008 elections with 21% of the vote. The SRP won two seats in the 2006 Senate elections.
In 2009, it formally allied with the Human Rights Party in the Democratic Movement of Change.
In 2008, party activist Tuot Saron was arrested on a charge of "being an accomplice to unlawful confinement".[2] International human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International described the charges as a politically motivated attempt to intimidate other SRP activists.[2][3] Tuot Saron was released on 26 November 2010, following a Royal Pardon decree.[4]
In the 2012 Cambodian Senate elections, the Sam Rainsy Party gained nine new seats in the Senate. Although it merged with the Human Rights Party to form the Cambodia National Rescue Party, it remains active due to still having seats in the Senate, with Kong Korm as its leader. It will fully integrate into the CNRP and officially disband in the next Senate elections.[5]
Its motto is "Integrity, Truth, Justice".[6]
Election results[]
General election[]
Election | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | Government | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | ± | # | ± | ||||
1998 | Sam Rainsy | 699,665 | 14.3 | New | 15 / 122
|
New | ![]() |
CPP–FUNCINPEC |
2003 | 1,130,423 | 21.9 | ![]() |
24 / 123
|
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CPP–FUNCINPEC | |
2008 | 1,316,714 | 21.9 | ![]() |
26 / 123
|
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CPP–FUNCINPEC |
Communal elections[]
Election | Leader | Votes | Communes | Councillors | Position | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | ± | # | ± | # | ± | |||
2002 | Sam Rainsy | 736,454 | 16.9 | New | 13 / 1,621
|
New | 1,329 / 11,261
|
New | ![]() |
2007 | 1,303,906 | 25.2 | ![]() |
28 / 1,621
|
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2,660 / 11,353
|
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2012 | 1,224,460 | 20.8 | ![]() |
22 / 1,633
|
![]() |
2,155 / 11,459
|
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![]() |
Senate elections[]
Election | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | Outcome | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | ± | # | ± | ||||
2006 | Kong Korm | 1,165 | 10.3 | — | 2 / 57
|
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Minority |
2012 | 2,503 | 21.9 | ![]() |
11 / 57
|
![]() |
![]() |
Minority |
See also[]
- Category:Candlelight Party politicians
- Liberalism
- Contributions to liberal theory
- Liberalism worldwide
- List of liberal parties
- Liberal democracy
References[]
- ^ "Candlelight Party amends statue in Congress". Khmer Times. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
- ^ a b "Cambodia Prisoner of Conscience Tuot Saron". Amnesty International. September 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
- ^ "Cambodia: Opposition Officials Arrested to Sway Elections". Human Rights Watch. 23 March 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
- ^ "Tout Saron, SRP activist and Amnesty Int'l "Prisoner of Conscience", finally released from jail". Cambodian Today. 15 December 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
- ^ "Changes at Human Rights Party". The Phnom Penh Post. 1 April 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
- ^ "Sam Rainsy Party".
External links[]
- Sam Rainsy Party official site
- 1995 establishments in Cambodia
- 2012 disestablishments in Cambodia
- Cambodian democracy movements
- Liberal parties in Cambodia
- Nationalist parties in Cambodia
- Political parties disestablished in 2012
- Political parties established in 1995
- Political parties in Cambodia
- Asian political party stubs
- Cambodia stubs
- Liberal party stubs