Candlelight Party

File:Elections 40365 02072008.jpg

Sam Rainsy campaign bus during the 2008 election

The Candlelight Party (Template:Langx, UNGEGN: Template:Transliteration, ALA-LC: Template:Transliteration {{#invoke:IPA|main}})<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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. It is the largest opposition party in Cambodia, and the main challenger to the ruling Cambodian People's Party.<ref name=TheDiplomat/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The party, which would have been the only competitive opposition party to the CPP, was disqualified from running in the 2023 election by the National Election Committee despite previously being permitted to participate in the 2022 local elections. The party resumed political activity in October 2021 after having been inactive since 2012.

The party, founded in 1995 as the Khmer Nation Party,<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> renamed the Sam Rainsy Party in 1998,<ref name=":0" /> and it was renamed the Candlelight Party in 2018. This party is currently 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 and 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. The CP 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".<ref name="AI">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> International human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International described the charges as a politically motivated attempt to intimidate other SRP activists.<ref name="AI" /><ref name="HRW">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Tuot Saron was released on 26 November 2010, following a Royal Pardon decree.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In July 2024, Candlelight Party President Teav Vannol was fined 6 billion riels (approximately $1.5 million) for “defaming” the Cambodian government to foreign media.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Election results

General elections

Election	Leader	Votes			Seats		Position	Government
		#	%	±	#	±
1998	Sam Rainsy	699,665	14.3	New	Template:Composition bar	New	Template:Increase 3rd	Template:No2
2003		1,130,423	21.9	Template:Increase7.6	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase9	Template:Steady 3rd	Template:No2
2008		1,316,714	21.9	Template:Steady	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase2	Template:Increase 2nd	Template:No2

Communal elections

Election	Leader	Votes			Chiefs		Councillors		Position
		#	%	±	#	±	#	±
2002	Sam Rainsy	736,454	16.9	New	Template:Composition bar	New	Template:Composition bar	New	Template:Increase 3rd
2007		1,303,906	25.2	Template:Increase8.3	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase15	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase1,331	Template:Increase 2nd
2012		1,224,460	20.8	Template:Decrease4.4	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease6	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease505	Template:Steady 2nd
2017	Teav Vannol	Did not contest			Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease22	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease2,155	Template:N/a
2022		1,610,556	22.2	Template:Increase22.2	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase4	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase2,198	Template:Increase 2nd

Senate elections

Election	Leader	Votes			Seats		Position	Outcome
		#	%	±	#	±
2006	Kong Korm	1,165	10.3	—	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease5	Template:Steady 3rd	Template:No2
2012		2,503	21.9	Template:Increase11.6	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase9	Template:Increase 2nd	Template:No2

See also

• Category:Candlelight Party politicians
• Liberalism
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Liberalism worldwide
• List of liberal parties
• Liberal democracy

References

<references/> Template:Notelist

External links

• Sam Rainsy Party official site

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