Editing Khmer Rouge (section)

==== Regime ====
{{main|Democratic Kampuchea}}

===== Leadership =====
The governing structure of Democratic Kampuchea was split between the state presidium headed by Khieu Samphan, the cabinet headed by Pol Pot (who was also Democratic Kampuchea's prime minister) and the party's own Politburo and Central Committee. All were complicated by a number of political factions which existed in 1975. The leadership of the Party Centre, the faction which was headed by Pol Pot, remained largely unchanged from the early 1960s to the mid-1990s. Its leaders were mostly from middle-class families and had been educated at French universities.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khmer-Rouge|title=Khmer Rouge — Facts, Leadership, & Death Toll|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=5 November 2017|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107033002/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khmer-Rouge|url-status=live}}</ref> The second significant faction was made up of men who had been active in the pre-1960 party and had stronger links to Vietnam as a result; government documents show that there were several major shifts in power between factions during the period in which the regime was in control.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

In 1975–1976, there were several powerful regional Khmer Rouge leaders who maintained their own armies and had different party backgrounds than the members of the Pol Pot clique, particularly [[So Phim]] and Nhim Ros, both of whom were vice presidents of the state [[presidium]] and members of the Politburo and Central Committee respectively.<ref name="Vickery 1999" />{{rp|158}} A possible military coup attempt was made in May 1976, and its leader was a senior Eastern Zone cadre named Chan Chakrey, who had been appointed deputy secretary of the army's General Staff.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} A reorganisation that occurred in September 1976, during which Pol Pot was demoted in the state presidium, was later presented as an attempted pro-Vietnamese coup by the Party Center.<ref name="Vickery 1999" />{{rp|158}} Over the next two years, So Phim, Nhim Ros, Vorn Vet and many other figures who had been associated with the pre-1960 party were arrested and executed.<ref name="Vickery 1999" />{{rp|158}} Phim's execution was followed by that of the majority of the cadres and much of the population of the Eastern Zone that he had controlled.<ref name="Vickery 1999" />{{rp|159}} The Party Centre, lacking much in the way of their own military resources, accomplished their seizure of power by forming an alliance with Southwestern Zone leader Ta Mok and Pok, head of the North Zone's troops. Both men were of a purely peasant background and were therefore natural allies of the strongly peasant ideology of the Pol Pot faction.<ref name="Vickery 1999" />{{rp|159}}

The Standing Committee of the Khmer Rouge's Central Committee during its period of power consisted of the following:
* Pol Pot (Saloth Sar), "Brother number&nbsp;1", General Secretary from 1963 until his death in 1998 and effectively the leader of the movement.
* Nuon Chea (Long Bunruot), "Brother number&nbsp;2", Prime Minister. High status made him Pol Pot's "right hand man".
* Ieng Sary (Pol Pot's brother-in-law), "Brother number 3", Deputy Prime Minister.
* [[Khieu Samphan]], "Brother number&nbsp;4", President of Democratic Kampuchea.
* Ta Mok (Chhit Chhoeun), "Brother number&nbsp;5", Southwest Regional Secretary.
* [[Son Sen]], "Brother number&nbsp;89", Defence Minister, superior of [[Kang Kek Iew]] and executed on Pol Pot's orders for treason.
* [[Yun Yat]], wife of Son Sen, former Information Minister, executed with Son Sen.
* [[Ke Pauk]], "Brother number&nbsp;13", former secretary of the Northern zone.
* [[Ieng Thirith]], sister-in-law of Pol Pot and wife of Ieng Sary, former Social Affairs Minister.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/IHRLC/Leaders_of_the_Khmer_Rouge.pdf|title=Leaders of the Khmer Rouge|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=5 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805203332/https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/IHRLC/Leaders_of_the_Khmer_Rouge.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>