European Parliament figures have been President of the Parliament and its predecessors. The first President was Paul-Henri Spaak MEP, one of the founding fathers of the Union. Other founding fathers include Alcide de Gasperi MEP and Robert Schuman MEP. The two female Presidents were Simone Veil MEP in 1979 (first President of the elected Parliament) and Nicole Fontaine MEP in 1999, both Frenchwomen. The previous president, Jerzy Buzek was the first East-Central European to lead an EU institution, a former Prime Minister of Poland who rose out of the Solidarity movement in Poland that helped overthrow communism in the Eastern Bloc. During
Prime Minister of Cambodia to 1998. Elected as prime minister in his own right in 1998, he is the longest serving prime minister in Cambodian history. The position was first held by King Norodom Sihanouk in March 1945, during the French colonial administration. Cambodia's first parliamentary elections were held on 1 September 1946. The Democratic Party remained the dominant-party in Cambodian politics throughout the 1940s until the formation of the Sangkum Reastr Niyum in 1955. Sangkum was the dominant-party in Cambodia from 1955 to 1970 following a military coup by General Lon Nol. Until 1993, it was not an elected position. Merely few prime