Cambodia’s autocrat Hun Sen is running for re-election today. He eliminated the opposition long ago and suppressed all criticism. And the transfer of power to his son has already been clarified.
Today is the official election in Cambodia. But Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been leading the Southeast Asian country between Thailand, Laos and Vietnam in an authoritarian manner for almost 40 years, left nothing to chance to guarantee his re-election – and the transfer of power to his son.
Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the Asia-Pacific region and one of the most corrupt, right after Myanmar and North Korea. The judiciary and electoral committee are under the control of the 70-year-old autocrat Hun Sen and his Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).
opposition party must not compete
In the last parliamentary elections in 2018, Hun Sen’s party secured almost 80 percent of the vote and thus all 125 seats in the National Assembly. At that time, the government had prevented the largest opposition party from participating after it had narrowly missed out on winning the election four years earlier.
Her successor party – the only party that represents real competition for Hun Sen’s power apparatus – was no different this time. The reason: The Candlelight Party (CP) is said not to have submitted the necessary papers for participation in today’s elections in time.
Party officials say they have been hampered by state bureaucracy. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch also expects manipulation in the counting of ballot papers. The founder of the opposition party, Sam Rainsy, who is now living in exile, considers the elections to be “a joke”.
change of sides or arrest
The Candlelight Party was formed after the dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). In the run-up to the last general election in 2018, the Supreme Court banned it at the government’s request after its prominent opposition leader was arrested for alleged treason. Kem Sokha, under house arrest since 2017, was sentenced in March this year to 27 years in prison for conspiring with foreign powers against the government.
Former opposition party youth leader Yim Sinorn, who was jailed after posting comments about the government on Facebook, has since defected to the ruling party. It is part of the CPP’s strategy to persuade opposition candidates to switch sides.
Every government criticism switched off
Hun Sen justifies the elimination of anti-government voices in the election campaign as a necessary measure to prevent “the national division” and any form of “extremist politics and activity”.
Just days before today’s election, Hun Sen ordered Radio Free Asia and other media outlets to be blocked. The Voice of Democracy, one of Cambodia’s last remaining independent media outlets, was shut down in February for criticizing the prime minister’s son.
The government does not hesitate to use sham trials to silence even the slightest criticism. Well-known Cambodian-US lawyer and human rights activist Seng Theary was imprisoned in June 2022 after a mass trial with 60 other activists.
The government does not seem impressed that human rights violations and the repression of the opposition could result in further sanctions by the EU and the USA. China, Cambodia’s closest ally, has Hun Sen’s back and is supporting it with investments in infrastructure.
The dynastic succession is decided
Hun Sen is a former Khmer Rouge commander who, after changing sides, helped overthrow Pol Pot’s regime of terror, which had murdered up to a quarter of its own population. During the election campaign, he sold himself as a guarantor of stability and security.
But at the same time, Hun Sen is planning to hand over power to his son: Hun Manet, who studied in Great Britain and the USA, is currently the head of the Cambodian army. However, he has no political experience and observers think he will have a hard time as prime minister. Even in his own party there is a lack of trust in him.
But his father finally regulated the dynastic succession by party resolution. Accordingly, Hun Manet is also running for a seat in the National Assembly this time – as the party’s top candidate. Hun Manet is expected to take power no later than the next general election in 2028.