Son Sann was the leader of the republican-inclined Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) which was established in October 1979 in opposition to the Khmer Rouge and the incumbent People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK). he was born on 5 October 1911 in Phnom Penh to a family originating from southern Vietnam.
Son Sann was educated in France, where he graduated in 1933 from the School for Advanced Commercial Studies. On his return to Cambodia, he served as deputy governor of the provinces of Battambang and Prey Veng in the French administration. After the Pacific War, during which he engaged in private business, Son Sann held a series of senior government offices beginning with finance minister; in 1954, as foreign minister, he represented Cambodia at the conference leading to the Geneva Agreements on Indochina. He became the first governor of Cambodia's National Bank in 1955, holding that position until 1968 and serving concurrently as prime minister during 1967-8. He was never in tune politically with Prince Norodom Sihanouk but after Sihanouk's overthrow in 1970, Son Sann left Cambodia to take up residence in Paris, where he was living when the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975.
As leader of the KPNLE, he took his movement in June 1982 into the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), in which he held the office of prime minister. Poor military performance by the KPNLF led to dissension within its ranks but Son Sann, who attracted respect for his personal probity, held on to its political leadership. He took a hard line towards the incumbent government in Phnom Penh and was a party to the negotiations which culminated in a political settlement at the International conference on Cambodia in Paris in October 1991. he returned to Cambodia in December 1991 and then transformed the KPNLF into the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party for the elections in May 1993 under United Nations auspices ( UNTAC).
His party won only 10 out of the 120 seats in the Constituent Assembly. Son Sann was elected its chairman and supervised its role in drafting a new constitution, which was promulgated in September. After the re-establishment of the constitutional monarchy, Son Sann retired from public life, giving up his chair of the National Assembly to Chea Sim. He lost his position as party president to the minister of information, Ieng Mouly, in July 1995.
Power by: Chan Thach