Cambodian People's Party
គណបក្សប្រជាជនកម្ពុជា
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| Khmer name | គណបក្សប្រជាជនកម្ពុជា |
| Abbreviation | CPP KPRP (before 1991) |
| President | Hun Sen |
| Vice Presidents | Say Chhum Sar Kheng Tea Banh Men Sam An[1] Hun Manet |
| Founders | Sơn Ngọc Minh Tou Samouth |
| Founded | 28 June 1951; 73 years ago (1951-06-28)[2] 5 January 1979 (reconstruction) |
| Split from | Indochinese Communist Party |
| Headquarters | 7 January Palace[3] 203 Norodom Boulevard, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
| Youth wing | People's Revolutionary Youth Union of Kampuchea (1979–1989) Central Youth of the Cambodian People's Party (present) |
| Military wing | Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (1979–1989) Cambodian People's Armed Forces (1989–1993) |
| Membership (2023) |  7,100,000[4] |
| Ideology |
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| Political position | Right wing |
| National affiliation | Solidarity Front for Development of the Cambodian Motherland |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International |
| Colors | Sky blue |
| Slogan | "ឯករាជ្យ សន្តិភាព សេរីភាព ប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ អព្យាក្រឹត និងវឌ្ឍនភាពសង្គម" ("Independence, Peace, Freedom, Democracy, Neutrality and Social Progress") |
| Anthem | "បទចម្រៀងនៃគណបក្សប្រជាជនកម្ពុជា" ("Anthem of the Cambodian People's Party") |
| Senate |
55 / 62
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| National Assembly |
120 / 125
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| Commune chiefs |
1,648 / 1,652
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| Commune councillors |
9,376 / 11,622
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| Provincial, municipal, town and district councillors[10] |
4,034 / 4,114
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| Provincial Governors |
25 / 25
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| Website | |
| cpp | |
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The Cambodian People's Party (CPP)[a] is a Cambodian political party which has ruled the country since 1979. Founded in 1951, it was originally known as the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP).[b]
During the Cold War it allied itself with Vietnam and the Soviet Union, in contrast to the pro-Chinese Communist Party of Kampuchea led by Pol Pot.[11] After toppling the Khmer Rouge's Democratic Kampuchea regime with the Vietnamese-backed liberation of Phnom Penh, it became the ruling party of the People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979–1989), which was later renamed the State of Cambodia (1989–1991). The party's current name was adopted during the final year of the State of Cambodia, when the party abandoned the one-party system and Marxism–Leninism.
Originally rooted in communist and Marxist–Leninist ideologies, the party took on a more reformist outlook in the mid-1980s under Heng Samrin. In 1991, the CPP officially dropped its commitment to socialism, and has since embraced a mixed economy. Along with some major parties of the European centre-right, the CPP is a member of the Centrist Democrat International.
The party's rule has been described as authoritarian.[12][13]
Nationalists in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos held the belief that to successfully liberate themselves from France they needed to work together; the nationalists formed the supranational Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) to oppose the French in 1930.
However, the triumph of the Japanese during the early stage of World War II crippled French rule and helped to nurture nationalism in all three Indochinese countries. Consequently, the idea of an Indochinese-wide party was submerged in the rhetoric of fierce nationalism. In Cambodia, growing nationalist sentiment and national pride married historical mistrust and fear of neighbouring countries, which turned out to be a stumbling block for the ICP. On 28 June 1951, the Cambodian nationalists who struggled to free Cambodia from French colonial rule split from the ICP to form the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP).
In 1955, the KPRP established a subsidiary party named the Pracheachon in order to run in the national election that year. The name of the party was changed to the Workers' Party of Kampuchea (WPK) on 28 September 1960 and then to the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) in 1966. Members of the CPK moved the party's headquarters to Ratanakiri Province, where they were termed "Khmer Rouge" by Prince Norodom Sihanouk.
In early 1979, the Cambodian communists who overthrew the Khmer Rouge's regime to end the genocide held a congress. At this gathering, they declared themselves the true successors of the original KPRP founded in 1951 and labelled the congress as the Third Party Congress, thus not recognizing the 1963, 1975 and 1978 congresses of CPK as legitimate. The party considered 28 June 1951 as its founding date. A national committee led by Pen Sovan and Roh Samai was appointed by the Congress. The women's wing of the party, the National Association of Women for the Salvation of Kampuchea, was also established in 1979 with a vast national network of members that extended to the district level.
The existence of the party was kept secret until its 4th congress in May 1981, when it appeared publicly and assumed the name KPRP. The name-change was stated to be carried out "to clearly distinguish it from the reactionary Pol Pot party and to underline and reassert the continuity of the party's best traditions".
As of 1990, members of the Politburo were Heng Samrin (General Secretary), Chea Sim, Hun Sen, Chea Soth, Math Ly, Tea Banh, Men Sam An, Nguon Nhel, Sar Kheng, Bou Thang, Ney Pena, Say Chhum and alternate members included Sing Song, Sim Ka and Pol Saroeun. Members of the Secretariat were Heng Samrin, Say Phouthang, Bou Thang, Men Sam An and Sar Kheng.
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In 1991, the party was renamed to the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) during a United Nations-sponsored peace and reconciliation process. Politburo and the Secretariat to enter into the new Standing Committee, Chea Sim as President and Hun Sen as Vice-president. Despite being rooted in socialism, the party adopted a pragmatic approach in order to keep power. For instance, the CPP played a major role in Cambodian peace negotiation process, which led to the signing of the Paris Peace Accords on 23 October 1991 and the creation of the second Kingdom of Cambodia. The CPP ousted Nodorom Ranariddh in a coup in 1997, leaving the party with no serious opposition. Thirty-two people died in the coup.
Under CPP rule, Cambodia transitioned into a lower-middle-income economy in 2016. The party aims to turn Cambodia into a higher-middle-income country by 2030 and high-income country by 2050. Ideologically, an increasing number of CPP senior leaders claim that the Cambodian ruling party has adopted a centrist position. They believe that the CPP presents a middle path between capitalism and communism, with emphasis on the values and principles of social market economy along with social and environmental protection, and Buddhist humanism. However, academics such as John Ciorciari have observed that the CPP still continues to maintain its communist-era party structures and that many of its top-ranking members were derived from KPRP. Also, despite Hun Sen being only the deputy leader of the party until 2015, he had de facto control of the party.
It won 64 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly in the 1998 elections, 73 seats in the 2003 elections and 90 seats in the 2008 elections, winning the popular vote by the biggest margin ever for a National Assembly election with 58% of the vote. The CPP also won the 2006 Senate elections. The party lost 22 seats in the 2013 elections, with opposition gained. Since 2018 Cambodian general election, the party commands all 125 seats in the National Assembly, and 58 of 62 seats in the Senate. The main opposition, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was banned before the election.[14] Hun Sen, the former Prime Minister of Cambodia, has served as the CPP's President since 2015.
| President of the Cambodian People's Party | |
|---|---|
| ប្រធាននៃគណបក្សប្រជាជនកម្ពុជា | |
Emblem of the Cambodian People's Party
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Hun Sen since 20 June 2015 | |
| Type | Party leader |
| Seat | Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
| Formation | 28 June 1951; 73 years ago (1951-06-28) |
| First holder | Tou Samouth as General Secretary |
| Deputy | Vice President |
KPRP (General Secretary) CPP (President)
| No. |
Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
Term of office | Office held | Vice President | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Duration | ||||||
| 1 | Tou Samouth ទូ សាមុត (1915–1962) |
21 September 1951 | 30 September 1960 | 9 years, 9 days | ― | — | ||
| 2 | Pen Sovan ប៉ែន សុវណ្ណ (1936–2016) |
5 January 1979 | 5 December 1981 | 2 years, 334 days | Minister of Defence (1979–1981)
Prime Minister (1981) |
— | ||
| 3 | 
|
Heng Samrin ហេង សំរិន (born 1934) |
5 December 1981 | 17 October 1991 | 9 years, 316 days | Chairman of the People's Revolutionary Council (1979–1981), President of the Council of State (1981–1992), President of the National Assembly (2006–2023) | — | |
| 4 | 
|
Chea Sim ជា ស៊ីម (1932–2015) |
17 October 1991 | 8 June 2015† | 23 years, 234 days | Chairman of the National Assembly (1981–1993),
President of the Council of State (1992–1993), President of the Senate (1999–2015) |
Hun Sen | |
| 5 | 
|
Hun Sen ហ៊ុន សែន (born 1952) |
20 June 2015 | Present | 9 years, 24 days | Minister of Foreign Affairs (1979–1986, 1988–1990),
Prime Minister (1985–2023), President of the Senate (2024–) |
Sar Kheng | |
| Say Chhum | ||||||||
| Men Sam An | ||||||||
| Tea Banh | ||||||||
| Hun Manet | ||||||||
The party is headed by a 34-member Permanent Committee, commonly referred to as the Politburo (after its former Communist namesake). The current members are (with their party positions in brackets):
| Year | Party leader | Candidate | Votes | Seats | Position | Government | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | ± | # | ± | |||||
| 1981 | Pen Sovan | 2,898,709 | 90.3 | New |
117 / 117
|
New | 1st
|
KPRP | |
| 1993 | Chea Sim | Hun Sen | 1,533,471 | 38.2 |  52.1
|
51 / 120
|
66 |
2nd
|
FUNCINPEC–CPP–BLDP–MOULINAKA |
| 1998 | 2,030,790 | 41.4 | 3.2
|
64 / 122
|
13 |
1st
|
CPP–FUNCINPEC | ||
| 2003 | 2,447,259 | 47.3 | 5.9
|
73 / 123
|
9 |
 1st
|
CPP–FUNCINPEC | ||
| 2008 | 3,492,374 | 58.1 | 10.8
|
90 / 123
|
17 |
1st
|
CPP–FUNCINPEC | ||
| 2013 | 3,235,969 | 48.8 | 9.3
|
68 / 123
|
22 |
1st
|
CPP | ||
| 2018 | Hun Sen | 4,889,113 | 76.8 | 28.0
|
125 / 125
|
57 |
1st
|
CPP | |
| 2023 | Hun Sen | Hun Manet | 6,398,311 | 82.3 | 5.5
|
120 / 125
|
5 |
1st
|
CPP |
| Year | Leader | Votes | Chiefs | Councillors | Position | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | ± | # | ± | # | ± | |||
| 2002[15] | Hun Sen | 2,647,849 | 60.9 | New |
1,598 / 1,621
|
New |
7,552 / 11,261
|
New | 1st
|
| 2007[16] | 3,148,533 | 60.8 | 0.1
|
1,591 / 1,621
|
7 |
7,993 / 11,353
|
441
|
1st
| |
| 2012[17] | 3,631,082 | 61.8 | 1.0
|
1,592 / 1,633
|
1 |
8,292 / 11,459
|
299
|
1st
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| 2017[18] | 3,540,056 | 50.8 | 11.0
|
1,156 / 1,646
|
436
|
6,503 / 11,572
|
1,789
|
1st
| |
| 2022[19] | 5,378,773 | 74.3 | 23.5
|
1,648 / 1,652
|
492
|
9,376 / 11,622
|
2,873
|
1st
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| Year | Candidate | Votes | Seats | Position | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | ± | # | ± | |||
| 2006 | Chea Sim | 7,854 | 69.2 | — |
45 / 61
|
14 |
1st
|
| 2012 | 8,880 | 77.8 | 8.6
|
46 / 61
|
1 |
1st
| |
| 2018 | Say Chhum | 11,202 | 95.9 | 18.1
|
58 / 62
|
12 |
1st
|
| 2024 | Hun Sen | 10,052 | 85.9 | 10.0
|
55 / 62
|
3 |
1st
|
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Current and former ruling parties of communist states
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| National |
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