Cambodians Plan Monarchy Led by Sihanouk

After hard-won elections to build democracy, Cambodia is turning once again to the man who ruled the country for three decades, bringing back Prince Norodom Sihanouk as king.

“My father will be king,” Prince Norodom Ranariddh said after returning from talks with his father in North Korea about whether Cambodia should again become a constitutional monarchy.

The announcement comes less than four months after U.N.-supervised elections that were supposed to bring democracy to Cambodia after two decades of war.

Ranariddh is co-chairman of Cambodia’s interim government, along with Hun Sen, who was premier of a Vietnamese-installed government. The May elections were held under a 1991 peace accord that ended a 13-year civil war between Hun Sen’s government and three guerrilla groups.

Hun Sen appeared upset when the two leaders arrived at Phnom Penh’s airport. With a grim expression on his face, he turned to reporters and said, “Monarchy,” before getting in his car and speeding off.

Sihanouk, 70, did not run in the elections. Although many U.N. officials and lawmakers see him as the country’s sole unifying figure, many also believe that endowing him with royal powers amounts to a step backward from democracy.

“If the king is to be a real king, he must not be involved with politics,” Ahmad Yahya, a lawmaker from Ranariddh’s party, said Friday. “We don’t want a monarchy with a dictatorship.”