Cambodian royalists have been left stunned after voters banished their FUNCINPEC party to the edge of the country's political wilderness in an unprecedented drubbing in national elections a week ago.
Though FUNCINPEC emerged from the chaos of the early 1990s as Cambodia's top party, it saw its political clout deteriorate over the past decade as the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) -- made up mostly of the country's communist bosses from the 1980s -- gained a stronger foothold.
Now analysts say the party, founded by the revered monarch King Norodom Sihanouk, would have no choice but to accept an even smaller role in a coalition government headed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a top operator inside the CPP.
"The big question about this election was which political outfit would emerge as the biggest outside the Cambodian People's Party (CPP). And it wasn't really the royalists," one Western media analyst said.
When campaigning started in late June, party chief Prince Norodom Ranariddh immediately seized on nationalist sentiment and promised to rid Cambodia of illegal Vietnamese.
He also boasted FUNCINPEC would repeat its performance in the 1993 UN-sponsored polls, when it scored 58 out of 121 seats in the National Assembly and was able to form a government with the CPP headed by Ranariddh.
Both the promise and boast backfired.
According to preliminary figures, his party came in third with just 20.75 percent of the overall vote, trailing the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) which scored 21.89 percent, and the ruling CPP, with 47.48 percent.
Those figures are expected to translate into 73 seats for the CPP, 26 for FUNCINPEC and 24 for the SRP in the new 123-seat National Assembly.
For FUNCINPEC, the junior partner in the outgoing government, that means a drastic loss of 17 seats compared to their position after the 1998 elections, while the CPP and SRP have each picked up an extra nine seats.
The CPP, which fell short of the two-thirds majority required to govern outright, must again forge a coalition.
Chea Vannath, executive director of the Centre for Social Development (CSD), said FUNCINPEC's attempt to play on the popularity of King Sihanouk during its campaign backfired, as savvy voters easily distinguished between the monarch and politics.
"They overestimated their own popularity," she said. "There is an attitude in FUNCINPEC that no matter what happens it cannot lose because they are royalists.
"What they have to do is get serious, in terms of professionalism and in the sense of serving the people," she said, adding that FUNCINPEC offered nothing but sentiment for an ageing monarch and anti-Vietnamese nonsense.
Meanwhile FUNCINPEC might now be battling an internal division.
"What happens [to FUNCINPEC] next will probably be decided by the legitimacy of the letter that was published on the front pages of the Khmer press last week," the media analyst said.
He was referring to a letter allegedly from party members calling for the removal of Ranariddh, which was published by Rasmei Kampuchea, Rasmei Angkor and Areyathor, and also distributed widely across the capital.
FUNCINPEC insisted the letter was a fake and declared "Prince Norodom Ranariddh as the only head of FUNCINPEC."
Any move to oust Ranariddh could prove difficult. He survived a similar poor showing by his party during local commune elections in February last year.
Still, other signs of dissent within the ranks have also emerged.
Senior FUNCINPEC figures told the media they would lead a mass resignation from the old government to undermine attempts by Hun Sen to carry on an interim administration until a new regime can be formed by October.
The move was seen as nothing more than political brinkmanship.
But the threat failed to materialize after Hun Sen warned this would result in a suspension of pay and the confiscation of government perks. One party insider said personal interest had risen to the fore.
"Assuming there is a new coalition, then Hun Sen would likely take a dim view of anyone who attempts to undermine him and this will be remembered when senior government posts are awarded," he said.
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