Dogged by allegations of corruption, sex scandals and a leadership vacuum, Cambodian royalists have spent an empty five years in the political wilderness.
But many also fear that worse is still to come and this poll could spell an end for Funcinpec, the only party ever to seriously challenge Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodian People's Party (CPP). 'They will get no more than 5 per cent of the vote,' former Funcinpec minister Mu Sochua said. 'That will indicate they are finished.'
The extent of Funcinpec's electoral problems were rammed home in the 2003 election when the party of royal connections polled just 20.7 per cent, putting it alongside the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, which had 21.8 per cent.
It was a massive slump. Funcinpec won the first UN-sponsored election in 1993 and forced the CPP into a coalition five years later.
Funcinpec's problems escalated radically two years ago when chief and former first prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh faced allegations he sold, without approval, the party's headquarters and pocketed the profits. He was also having an extramarital affair as laws that criminalised adultery were being passed. Prince Ranariddh was ousted from the party, fled to Kuala Lumpur and sentenced in absentia to 18 months in prison over the land deal.
However, critics argue the party's problems go much deeper than recent scandals. Mu Sochua was widely popular as the minister for women's affairs in the CPP/Funcinpec coalition government before she was dumped just before the last election. She defected and is standing as a member of the Sam Rainsy Party.
She said Funcinpec had done little apart from align itself closely to the former revered monarch, King Norodom Sihanouk, who abdicated in favour of his younger son King Norodom Sihamoni in 2004 and now divides his time between palaces in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.