Editing Lon Nol (section)

==Employment in the colonial government==
Nol found employment with the [[French Indochina|French colonial]] civil service in 1937. He became a [[magistrate]], and soon proved himself as an efficient enforcer of French rule against a series of anti-colonial disturbances in 1939.<ref name="kiernan24"/> By 1946, he had risen to the post of Governor of [[Kratie Province]]. He became an associate of King [[Norodom Sihanouk]], and by the late 1940s, when he set up a right-wing, [[monarchist]], pro-independence political group, was becoming increasingly involved in the developing Cambodian political scene. Joining the army in 1952, he carried out military operations against the [[Viet Minh]].

After independence, Nol's nationalist [[Khmer Renovation]] party (along with small right-wing parties headed by [[Sam Sary]] and [[Dap Chhuon]]) became the core of the [[Sangkum]], the organisation set up by Sihanouk to participate in the [[1955 Cambodian parliamentary election|1955 elections]].<ref name=kiernan158>{{Harvnb|Kiernan|2004|p=158}}</ref> Sangkum won the elections and Sihanouk became prime minister.