22 POLITICAL OVERVIEW Following the Japanese occupation during World War II, Cambodia became independent within the French Union in 1949 and fully independent in 1953. After a five-year struggle, communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh in April 1975 and ordered the evacuation of all cities and towns. At least 1.5 million Cambodians died from execution, enforced hardships or starvation during the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot. The December 1978 Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside, leading to a ten-year Vietnamese dominance and ending almost 13 years of civil war. The Paris Peace Accord in 1991 put an end to the civil war in Cambodia and paved the way for the establishment of democracy in Cambodia. United Nations (UN) sponsored elections in 1993 helped restore some semblance of normalcy and the final elements of the Khmer Rouge surrendered in early 1999. Factional fighting in 1997 ended the first coalition government, but a second round of national elections in 1998 led to the formation of another coalition government and renewed political stability. The July 2003 elections were relatively peaceful, but it took one year of negotiations between contending political parties before a coalition government was formed. Today, Cambodia is showing signs of political stability, as evidenced by its admittance to the UN in 1998 and its formal admission into ASEAN in April 1999. In July 2013, Cambodia held its fifth parliamentary elections since the UN-sponsored elections in 1993. A total of eight political parties contested the elections and more than 6.6 million Cambodians; or 68% of the voting population; took part in the voting. The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won the elections by a very thin margin of 48.83% of the total ballots cast and 68 seats out of the 123-seat assembly. The strongest opposition party, Cambodia National Rescue Party (CPNR), led by Sam Rainsy, garnered 44.46% of the votes and won 55 seats. In the aftermath of the contested election results; the Cambodian People’s Party formed a oneparty government, following a parliamentary boycott by the opposition, Cambodia National Rescue Party: Consequently, the CPP and its leader; Hun Sen, continue to consolidate power despite a noted rise in popular support for the CPNR opposition party and more frequent antigovernment protests and garment labor unrests. In November 2013, the border conflict which irrupted in 2008 between Thailand and Cambodia involving the surrounding area of the ancient Preah Vihear temple ruins at the northwest Cambodia-Thailand border was finally resolved by mediation of the International Court of Justice; who upheld a 1962 decision and ruled in favor ofCambodia’s sovereignty over the Preah Vihear promontory. The court ruling also called for Thai military and police forces stationed there to withdraw troops. Governments of both countries agreed to peacefully implement the court ’s ruling to restore friendly diplomatic ties. Currently, Cambodia’s foreign policy focuses on establishing friendly borders with its neighbors as well as integrate itself into regional (ASEAN) and global (WTO) trading systems.
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