Career
He was arrested and removed from office in December 1981 by the Vietnamese for irritating Lê Đức Thọ, the chief adviser to the PRK government. He was imprisoned in Vietnam until January 1992. Sovan founded the Cambodian National Sustaining Party, which contested in the 1998 election but did not a seat in parliament.
He later joined the Human Rights Party founded in 2007 and served as its vice president
He was elected and was sworn in on August 5, 2014. Pen Sovan was born into an ethnic Vietnamese family in Takeo.
He first joined the Khmer Issarak at the age of 13 in 1949 and fought against the French. Two years later, Sovan joined the Indochinese Communist Party where he first met Ta Mok.
From 1973 to 1979, Sovan lived in exile in Hanoi.
Sovan was a founding leader of Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation (KUFNS or FUNSK) on November 25, 1978. He served as Secretary-General of the Kampuchean People"s Revolutionary Party from January 5, 1979 to 1 December 1981, when he was replaced by Heng Samrin following his removal from office by the Vietnamese. Sovan was arrested on December 2, 1981 for irritating Lê Đức Thọ, chief Vietnamese advisor to the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation (FUNSK) and the People"s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK).
He was released from Vietnam"s prison on January 25, 1992, after he served over 10 years.
Sovan explained his long ordeal in prison: "When I wanted to create our own army of five regiments, the Vietnamese didn"t agree and Lê Đức Thọ went to the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics to complain.".