Cambodian Premier Hun Sen To Step Down And Hand Role To Son

The longest-serving head of state in Asia and the longtime leader of Cambodia; Hun Sen, has announced that he will relinquish his post as prime minister in three weeks and pass it to his oldest son, who had just won his first seat in the legislature in the weekend elections.

The declaration followed the Cambodian People’s Party’s resounding victory in elections that were widely criticized by Western nations and human rights organizations for being neither free nor fair and in which the country’s primary opposition was stifled.

Hun Sen has been the dictatorial ruler of Cambodia for 38 years, but he announced before the elections that he would transfer power to Hun Manet, his eldest son, at some point during the next five-year term.

The 45-year-old Hun Manet is currently in charge of the army.

Hun Sen said in a televised speech on Wednesday that he had told King Norodom Sihamoni of his choice and that the king had concurred.

After the National Election Commission announces the final results of the election held on Sunday, in which the CPP won 120 of 125 seats, Hun Sen stated his son will be appointed prime minister.

A new generation will also hold several of the senior ministerial positions in the next government, which he claimed will be established on August 22.

Hun Sen is leaving his position as prime minister, but it’s widely anticipated that he’ll stay actively involved in the country’s governance and take over as president of the senate.

Hun Sen responded by going after opposition leaders following a challenge from the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party in 2013, which the CPP narrowly defeated at the polls. Ultimately, the party was disbanded by the nation’s favorable courts.

The National Election Committee disqualified the Candlelight Party, the CNRP’s unofficial successor, from participating in the election before Sunday’s vote due to a procedural error.

Following the vote, the European Union criticized it for being “conducted in a restricted political and civic space where the opposition, civil society, and the media were unable to function effectively without hindrance”.

After deciding that the elections were “neither free nor fair,” the United States moved one step further, declaring that it had taken action to impose visa restrictions “on individuals who undermined democracy and implemented a pause of foreign assistance programs.”

Before he defected to Vietnam, Hun Sen was a middle-ranking commander in the violently communist Khmer Rouge, which committed genocide in the 1970s. He soon rose to the top of the new Cambodian government that Hanoi imposed after Vietnam overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

A cunning and occasionally cruel politician, he has maintained his autocratic rule inside an ostensibly democratic system.

Hun Manet is a US Military Academy West Point alum who also holds doctoral degrees from Bristol University in the UK and New York University.

Despite his Western background, experts do not anticipate any sudden changes in policy given that his father has been progressively bringing Cambodia closer to China in recent years.