Norodom Ranariddh

Norodom Ranariddh នរោត្ដម រណឬទ្ធិ
Prince of Cambodia
President of the Supreme Privy Council
Reign	12 December 2008 – present
Spouse	Neak Moneang Ouk Phalla
Issue
Prince Norodom Sothearidh
Father	Norodom Sihanouk
Mother	Neak Moneang Phat Kanthol
Born	2 January 1944 (1944-01-02) (age 67) Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Prince Norodom Ranariddh (born January 2, 1944) is the second son of former king Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia and a half brother of the current king, Norodom Sihamoni.

Biography

When the monarchy was restored in 1993, he became Prime Minister, jointly with his father's rival Hun Sen. By agreement the two first shared equal status, but in September Ranariddh asserted his primacy as First Prime Minister, while Hun Sen remained Second Prime Minister. Following advice from his closest aide, he attempted to ally himself with renegade elements of the Khmer Rouge. In July 1997 Rannaridh was ousted by Hun Sen. After initially fleeing the country, he later returned to Cambodia to participate in the national election. His party suffered heavy losses but managed to form a new coalition with Hun Sen and became Chairman of the Cambodian National Assembly.

When King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated in October 2004, Ranariddh was a likely candidate to succeed him, and a likely choice for king due to his popularity. However, he renounced interest in the post and later that month he was part of the nine-member throne council which convened and chose Norodom Sihamoni to be the next king.

He was chairman of the Funcinpec political party but was removed in shame by party vote on October 18, 2006 led by once his closest advisor and general Gen. Nek Bunchhay.

Subsequently he established the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP), which is currently the third largest party in Cambodia.^[2] In the 2008 national election his new party won two seats in the national assembly.

Return from exile

Monarchical styles of Norodom Ranariddh
Reference style	His Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness
Alternative style	Sir

After Prime Minister Hun Sen was re-elected during the 2008 Cambodian elections, King Norodom Sihamoni granted a royal pardon upon the request of the re-elected Prime Minister. Ranariddh had been sentenced in absentia to 18 months in March 2007 over a US$3.6 million illegal property sale. The court ruled he improperly sold his former political party headquarters and used proceeds from the sale to purchase another property in his own name. Shortly after he was pardoned, he read out a letter on television thanking King Sihamoni, his half brother, for giving him "full freedom in order to join in the development of the nation." The prince also thanked Prime Minister Hun Sen for helping to arrange the royal pardon for him and said that he would return to Cambodia soon: he subsequently returned, and has retired from politics.

On December 12, 2008, King Norodom Sihamoni selected him as chief advisor of his advisory court.[3]

Family

Ranariddh has two wives:

1. Princess Mary to whom he was married in his youth, but the couple failed to re-certificate their wedding by Cambodia's policy and he later used this advantage to claim that Princess Mary was not his legal wife and prevented her from using the title of Princess. Having two wives is illegal under Cambodian law.

1. Uk Phalla, a former dancer with whom he has a son.

Before he was pardoned, he was living in Kuala Lumpur with his second wife and his son, Sothearidh. ^[1]

References

1. ^ [1]

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Sen-Ranariddh Coalition	Prime Minister of Cambodia 1993–1997	Succeeded by Ung Huot
Preceded by Chea Sim	President of the National Assembly 1998–2006	Succeeded by Heng Samrin

Persondata
Name	Ranariddh, Norodom
Alternative names
Short description	Cambodian politician
Date of birth	January 2, 1944
Place of birth	Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Date of death
Place of death