Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A new king
In October 2004, just days before his 82nd birthday, Norodom Sihanouk surprised the
country by abdicating on the grounds of age and ill-health. Prince Ranariddh had
already ruled himself out of the succession (which is not hereditary in Cambodia) and
the hurriedly assembled Throne Council quickly selected the sole surviving son of
Norodom Sihanouk and his wife, Monineath,
Norodom Sihamoni
- an uncontroversial
choice.
National
elections
were held again in 2008. As expected, Hun Sen's CPP retained
power with almost 60 percent of the vote, while Sam Rainsy finished in second place
with just under 22 percent - most would say it did as well as could be expected.
Observers claimed that the elections were free(ish) and that there was less violence than
in any of the previous elections.
Tensions with Thailand
resurfaced in later 2008 as both countries moved troops into
the disputed regions around
Preah Vihear
temple (see box, p.198), with soldiers on both
sides being killed in exchanges of cross-border fire - while relations soured still further in
early 2009 when Cambodia refused to extradite former Thai prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, appointing him a government economic advisor instead. At the same time
the notorious governor of Toul Sleng prison,
Duch
, the first of five prominent Khmer
Rouge leaders arrested in 2007 (see box opposite), went on trial for war crimes.
he year
2012
was something of a watershed for Cambodia. In July, Thailand and
Cambodia agreed to withdraw troops from around Preah Vihear, paving the way for a
resolution of the conflict and the return of peace to this troubled area. More or less
simultaneously, the three last surviving members of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy finally
went on trial for war crimes, while in October Cambodia's self-proclaimed “King
Father”, Norodom Sihanouk, died in Beijing of a heart attack, just a few days before
his 90th birthday, marking the end of an era in modern Cambodia.
The 2013 elections and after
The sense of a new chapter was reinforced by the
elections of July 2013
- the fifth and
most controversial in the country's recent history. Results showed a massive swing
against Hun Sen's ruling CPP, although they still secured a slender victory with 68 seats
compared to runner-up Sam Rainsy, whose Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP)
won all remaining 55 seats. Widespread voting irregularities had been reported even
before the elections were held, however, and given the closeness of the poll (48 versus 44
percent of the vote) Rainsy declared that he and his party were unable to accept the
results. Hun Sen's CPP government, meanwhile, refused calls by both the CNRP and
international community to address reports of electoral malpractice.
Mass demonstrations
were held in September and December 2013 in Phnom Penh
and elsewhere protesting the election results and other social concerns - a kind of
Cambodian Spring in which a long-suffering populace finally rose up against a
long-serving and increasingly dictatorial and self-serving leader. Protests have
continued sporadically through to the time of writing, with several demonstrators
being killed in clashes with police in early 2014. Rainsy's promise of a rise in the
government minimum wage has struck a chord with impoverished voters, becoming a
major issue in the ongoing protests, while his tub-thumping anti-Vietnamese rhetoric
has also played well with the local electorate - although less well with Cambodian
1996
1997
1998
Leading Khmer Rouge commander
Ieng Sary defects to the
government side, taking two
thousand cadres with him
Hun Sen launches a coup
against Prince Ranariddh; riots
on the streets of Phnom Penh
Death of Pol Pot in Anlong Veng, in
mysterious circumstances
