Cambodia’s former PM Prince Norodom Ranariddh died at 77; wiki, death cause

Prince Norodom Ranariddh was a politician and law academic in Cambodia. He was King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia’s second son and half-brother of the current King, Norodom Sihamoni. Ranariddh was the head of FUNCINPEC, a royalist party in Cambodia. He died in France on November 28th. He was 77 years old at the time. Ranariddh’s political career was always overshadowed by his charismatic father, Sihanouk, and his wily and ruthless political rival, Hun Sen. Scroll down to know more Prince Norodom Ranariddh wiki, wife, son, wife, net worth, death cause, and many more:

Prince Norodom Ranariddh wiki: Early life, Parents, Education and Nationality

Ranariddh was born on 2 January 1944 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, according to Norodom Ranariddh wiki. He was born  to Sihanouk and his first wife, Phat Kanhol, a royal court ballet dancer. Ranariddh was separated from his mother when she remarried when he was three years old, and spent the rest of his childhood with his aunt, Norodom Ketkanya, and grandaunt, Norodom Sobhana. Ranariddh went to Norodom School for basic school and part of his high school education at Lycee Descartes in Phnom Penh. He had a good relationship with his grandparents, Norodom Suramarit and Sisowath Kossamak, during his childhood, but was separated from his father.

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Ranariddh and his half-brother Norodom Chakrapong were sent to a boarding school in Marseille in 1958. Ranariddh had intended to study medicine because he excelled in science subjects, but Kossamak convinced him to study law instead. He studied at the University of Paris’s undergraduate law program after graduating from high school in 1961. In Paris, he struggled to concentrate on his academics, which he blamed on the city’s social distractions.

Ranariddh studied at the University of Provence’s law school in 1962. (now part of Aix-Marseille University) according to Norodom Ranariddh wiki. In 1968 and 1969, he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public law, respectively. Ranariddh took the PhD qualifying tests in 1969 after completing his master’s degree.

Professional Career 

He joined FUNCINPEC in 1983 and rose through the ranks to become the chief of staff and commander-in-chief of the Armée Nationale Sihanouk Site in 1986. In 1989, Ranariddh was appointed Secretary-General of FUNCINPEC, and in 1992, he was elected President. When FUNCINPEC won the general election in Cambodia in 1993, it formed a coalition government with the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which was led by two prime ministers at the same time. Ranariddh was elected as Cambodia’s first Prime Minister, and Hun Sen, a member of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), was elected as the country’s second Prime Minister. As the country’s first Prime Minister, Ranariddh advocated Cambodia’s corporate interests to regional leaders and founded the Cambodian Development Council (CDC). Ranariddh and Hun Sen’s relationship deteriorated in early 1996, when Ranariddh complained of an unfair distribution of government authority between FUNCINPEC and the CPP.

In March 1998, he returned to Cambodia and led his party in the Cambodian general election. After FUNCINPEC lost the elections to the CPP, Ranariddh was elected President of the National Assembly in November 1998, after initially contesting the results. He was considered a prospective successor to Sihanouk as King of Cambodia until he renounced his interest in the succession in 2001. Ranariddh, as President of the National Assembly, was one of the nine members of the throne council who chose Sihamoni as Sihanouk’s successor in 2004.

Ranariddh resigned as President of the National Assembly in March 2006 and was deposed as President of FUNCINPEC in October 2006. The Norodom Ranariddh Party was created the next month (NRP). Accusations and a conviction for embezzlement sent him into exile once more. After being pardoned in September 2008, he returned to Cambodia and retired from politics. Between 2010 and 2012, he attempted but failed to unite his NRP with FUNCINPEC. He founded the short-lived Community of Royalist People’s Party (CRPP) in 2014 before rejoining FUNCINPEC in January 2015. He was afterwards re-elected as President of FUNCINPEC.

Following the breakup of the Cambodia National Rescue Party in November 2017, he returned to the National Assembly as a member of parliament, with the FUNCINPEC receiving 41 of the 55 vacated seats. In the 2018 general election, the party did not win a single seat in the National Assembly. Despite finishing second behind the Cambodian People’s Party, their popular vote total was less than the 594,659 illegitimate ballots cast by disenfranchised supporters of the old opposition.

Who was Norodom Ranariddh’s wife? When did she die?

Norodom Ranariddh’s wife was Ouk Phalla. Ranariddh and Ouk Phalla had two sons: Sothearidh (born 2003) and Ranavong (born 2011). Phalla was a classical dancer and a descendant of King Sisowath. She met Ranariddh while he was producing and directing Raja Bori. Ranariddh and Ouk Phalla were both critically injured in a car accident on their way to Sihanoukville Province on June 17, 2018. Ouk Phalla died as a result of her injuries hours later. Phalla died at Preah Sihanouk Provincial Hospital three hours after the collision, at 12 p.m. on Sunday, while Ranariddh and six others were seriously injured. Ranariddh traveled to Paris in 2019 for medical treatment for a broken pelvis.

According to Pan Sothy, Funcinpec’s deputy secretary-general, Phalla’s death is a heartbreaking loss of a wife, mother, sister, relative, friend, and party member.

“The death of Ouk Phalla is the loss of a great Cambodian woman who spent most of her time studying national fine arts and tirelessly contributing to the country and the people. We are deeply saddened,” Sothy said. “Though her body has gone, her heroic spirit and sacrifice in serving the nation, religion, the King, the prince and her two sons will never be forgotten.”

What was the reason for his divorce from his first wife?

In early 1968, Ranariddh met his first wife, Eng Marie. Eng Meas, an Interior Ministry official of Sino-Khmer heritage, and Sarah Hay, a Muslim of Cham ethnicity, had Marie as their eldest child. Roland Eng, the former ambassador to Thailand and the United States, was one of Marie’s nine younger siblings. The pair married in the royal palace in September 1968 and had three children: Chakravuth (born 1970), Sihariddh (born 1972), and Rattana Devi (born 1974).

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When Ranariddh’s relationship with Ouk Phalla became public, the couple divorced, and Marie filed for divorce in March 2006. The divorce did not become final until June of 2010.

Prince Norodom Ranariddh died: How did he die? What was the cause of Cambodia’s former PM’s death?

Cambodia’s Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the late King Norodom Sihanouk’s son and former Prime Minister, died Sunday in France, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith confirmed on his Facebook page. He was 77 years old. Khieu Kanharith, who stated he found out about the death via Um Daravuth, a junior member of Cambodia’s royal family, did not specify the cause of death. Ranariddh had been ailing after a car accident in Cambodia in 2018. Ranariddh’s aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, claimed he traveled to Paris in late 2019 for medical treatment for a broken pelvis.

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