Sam Rainsy is a prominent Cambodian politician, economist, and activist who has been a leading figure in the opposition to the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) for decades. He is the co-founder of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and has served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Cambodian parliament.
Born on March 10, 1949, in Phnom Penh, Rainsy was educated in Cambodia and France, where he later worked as an investment manager and economist. He entered Cambodian politics in the early 1990s, initially as a member of the royalist FUNCINPEC party. He was appointed Minister of Economy and Finance in 1993 but was dismissed a year later, a move he attributed to his efforts to combat corruption.
In 1995, Rainsy founded the Khmer Nation Party, which was later renamed the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP). For years, the SRP was the primary opposition party in Cambodia. In 2012, the SRP merged with the Human Rights Party to form the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), with Rainsy as its president, to create a stronger, unified opposition to Prime Minister Hun Sen and the CPP. The CNRP saw significant electoral success in the 2013 general election and the 2017 communal elections, posing a serious challenge to the long-standing rule of the CPP. However, the party was controversially dissolved by the Supreme Court in November 2017, a move that was widely criticized by international observers as politically motivated to eliminate any viable opposition ahead of the 2018 general election.