December 28, 2004 Tuesday Merger of ruling Cambodian parties ‘unlikely'
File photo of coalition partners Prince Norodom Ranariddh (L) of the Royalist Funcinpec party and Prime Minister Hun Sen (R) of the Cambodian People's party. AP PHNOM PENH (dpa) - A merger of the royalist Funcinpec party and the dominant Cambodian People's Party (CPP) was unlikely, CPP honorary president Heng Samrin told reporters Monday. His comments outside the national assembly followed public musings by Funcinpec president Prince Norodom Ranariddh last week that the two parties, which make up the ruling coalition government, should merge to consolidate their coalition. A merger of the two would probably have frozen the ever-stronger opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) out of the government after the 2008 elections and shored up Funcinpec's place at the helm of the country despite the party again losing ground in the last elections. But Heng Samrin pointed out the vastly different histories of the two parties, with one unabashedly pro-royalist and the other with strong historical links to the Vietnamese-backed forces which overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979. He said that given these and other factors, he could not see a marriage of the type the prince had suggested proving very convenient. "There will be problems if we merge the CPP and Funcinpec. The CPP has its own identity. It would be very difficult to merge," he told reporters.
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