- published: 07 May 2016
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Sam Rainsy (Khmer: សម រង្ស៊ី IPA: [sɑːm reə̯̆ŋsiː]; born March 10, 1949) is a Cambodian politician.
Sam Rainsy was born in Phnom Penh in 1949. His father, Sam Sary was assassinated in 1959 when Sam Rainsy was ten, while his mother was thrown into prison. He moved to France in 1965, studied there and then worked as an investment manager and executive director in a variety of Parisian financial companies. He became a member of the Cambodian Funcinpec Party, and after returning to Cambodia in 1992 was elected a member of parliament for Siem Reap Province the following year. He became Minister of Finance, but was expelled from the party after losing a vote of no-confidence in 1994. In 1995, he founded the Khmer Nation Party (KNP), which changed its name before the 1998 elections to the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) to avoid registration issues. [1] Sam was elected a member of parliament for Kompong Cham province in those elections, and the party polled 14% of the vote. In the 2003 elections, it polled 22% of the vote.