Lon Rith, 45-year-old president of the Khmer Republican Party of Cambodia, talks to reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on April 20, 2008. Lon Rith, son of Lon Nol who ruled Cambodia from 1970 to 1975, left the country in 1973 when he was 11 and has been living in the United States ever since. He returned to Cambodia on Sunday to take part in the National Assembly elections, to be held in July. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    PHNOM PENH, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Lon Rith, the eldest son of Lon Nol, arrived here on Sunday from the United States as President of the newly founded Khmer Republican Party (KRP) to stand for Prime Minister candidate in the general election in July.

    Lon Rith is welcomed by about one hundred members of his party at the Phnom Penh International Airport.

    "I am very happy to meet with you all and we will organize our political party structure to join the competition for July general election," Lon Rith told reporters after arrival.

    "I will stand for vote in the general election on July 27 and it depends on the Cambodian people to decide whether they like a republican regime or not," he said.

    His party activists created the KRP in Cambodia in October 2007and he became president of the KRP, which has the same name as his father regime, "the Khmer Republic."

    The Khmer Republic regime led by Lon Nol ruled Cambodia from 1970 to 1975 after Lon Nol came to power in a coup on March 18, 1970.

    Lon Rith left Cambodian in 1973 when he was 11 years old. He is an economist in the United States, a press release from his party said.