[44][45] In August 1993, while Cambodia was still under the administration of an interim government, Ranariddh and Hun Sen jointly applied to make the country a member in the International Organization of the Francophonie.

As he saw it, these countries, characterised by hybrid regimes, active economic interventionism and limited press freedom, served as good models to propel Cambodia's socio-economic growth.

[48] In the initial months of the administration, he actively courted political leaders from various regional countries, including Indonesia,[49] Singapore[50] and Malaysia, with a view to encouraging investment in Cambodia.

[53][54] In November 1994, the CDC opened a tender to build a casino near Sihanoukville and proposals submitted by three companies were shortlisted; Ariston Berhad from Malaysia, Unicentral Corporation from Singapore and Hyatt International from the US.

Ariston's proposal was valued at US$1.3 billion, and included bringing a luxury cruise ship with casino to Cambodia, to be used to accommodate tourists until the Sihanoukville resort was built.

[56] The Khmer Rouge still controlled large tracts of forests in the regions of western and northern Cambodia bordering Thailand,[57] and helped finance its operations by selling timber to Thai forestry companies.

[60] They would continue the practice of periodically lifting export bans and granting special approvals to clear stocks of fallen timber on an on-and off-basis until Ranariddh's ouster in 1997.

[64] In March 1995, during an academic forum on corruption in Cambodia, Rainsy publicly questioned Ranariddh's acceptance of a Fokker 28 airplane and a US$108 million commission from Ariston Berhad.

Hun Sen submitted a government circular to reinstate 7 January as a national holiday, the anniversary of Phnom Penh's liberation from the Khmer Rouge by Vietnamese forces.

A few days later, apparently to tone down dissatisfaction from party members,[68] Ranariddh publicly accused the Army of Vietnam of encroaching into the territories of four Cambodian provinces bordering it.

[70] According to Tioulong Saumura, the former deputy governor of Cambodia's Central Bank (and Sam Rainsy's wife), the delays were part of Hun Sen's strategy to undermine projects associated with Ranariddh.

[70] In an apparent act of retaliation,[72] Ranariddh directed FUNCINPEC's co-minister of the interior, You Hockry to close down all casinos in the country, citing the absence of authorising legislation.

[45] Several FUNCINPEC MPs, including Loy Sim Chheang and Ahmad Yahya, called on Ranariddh to reconcile with Sam Rainsy and work with the newly formed Khmer Nation Party (KNP) in the forthcoming general election.

[76] At a CPP party meeting on 29 June 1996, Hun Sen chided Ranariddh for not following through on his March threat to leave the coalition government and called him a "real dog".

[78] This prompted Ranariddh and Hun Sen to briefly set their political differences aside to jointly seek a royal pardon for Ieng Sary,[79] who had been sentenced to death by the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) government in 1979.

[78] Subsequently, in October and December 1996, both Ranariddh and Hun Sen competed to win Ieng Sary's favour by separately visiting the leader at his fiefdom in Pailin.

[86] Five days later, customs officials at Sihanoukville discovered a three-ton shipment of rocket launchers, assault rifles and handguns, labelled "spare parts" and consigned to Ranariddh.

On 9 July 1997, the Cambodian Foreign Ministry issued a white paper labelling Ranariddh a "criminal" and a "traitor", as well as accusing him of conspiring with the Khmer Rouge to destabilise the government.

[94] During his absence, at a party meeting on 16 July 1997, Ung Huot was nominated by FUNCINPEC MPs loyal to Hun Sen to replace Ranariddh as First Prime Minister.

[106] FUNCINPEC faced numerous obstacles, including lack of access to television and radio channels which had come under CPP's exclusive control following the 1997 clashes, and the difficulties of its supporters in getting to party rallies.

[109] They filed petitions with the National Election Commission (NEC) and Constitutional Court; when these were rejected in August 1998,[110] Ranariddh and Rainsy organised street protests to demand that Hun Sen relinquish power.

[119] He also participated in efforts to foster better relations with Vietnam, and liaised with the Vietnamese National Assembly president Nông Đức Mạnh to develop friendship and cooperation initiatives.

[120] This led to several mutual visits between Cambodian and Vietnamese political leaders, between 1999 and 2000,[121] but relations between Cambodia and Vietnam deteriorated from September 2000 onwards amid renewed border clashes.

An agreement was reached in June 2004, when Ranariddh walked out of his alliance with Rainsy, dropped his demands to reform the NEC[132] and once again pledged to support Hun Sen as Prime Minister.

[133] While Ranariddh acquiesced to Hun Sen's demand, the "package vote" amendment was opposed by Sihanouk,[133] Chea Sim, the SRP as well as several senior leaders within FUNCINPEC.

At the congress, Nhek Bun Chhay justified Ranariddh's ouster on the grounds of his deteriorating relations with Hun Sen as well as his practice of spending prolonged periods of time overseas.

[149] When the election campaign began in June 2008, Ranariddh, though not able to enter the country, raised issues such as border disputes with Cambodia's neighbours, illegal logging, and promised to lower petrol prices.

Sam Rainsy, now president of the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), accused Ranariddh of intending to split the opposition vote to favour the ruling CPP in future elections.

Ranariddh responded by accusing the CNRP of harbouring republican sentiments, while also stating that his motivation in launching CRPP was to reunite royalist supporters within the Cambodian electorate.

Five months later, in November 1993, he was elevated to the rank of "Samdech Krom Preah" (Khmer: សម្ដេចក្រុមព្រះ), or "Leading Senior Prince" in English, in recognition of his efforts to re-instate Sihanouk as the King of Cambodia.