After the father, the turn of the son. Cambodia’s new parliament on Tuesday confirmed in a vote the dynastic transfer of power between Hun Sen, who ruled the country with an iron fist for nearly four decades, and his son Hun Manet.
On July 23, the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won 120 of the 125 seats in the lower house in a widely decried vote, with the main opposition force, the Candle Party, having been ousted. A few days later, Hun Sen, aged 71, announced that he was resigning from his post as Prime Minister in favor of his eldest son.
“This is a historic day for Cambodia,” the new leader said in an address to MPs. He claimed that the July elections had been “free, fair, equitable and transparent”, and promised that his government would “accelerate reforms” to make the country a “prosperous nation”. He hailed his father’s “heroism” for saving the country from the Khmer Rouge.
A government largely made up of sons of former ministers
Hun Many, Hun Manet’s younger brother, becomes civil service minister, while sons of interior and defense ministers will take over their fathers’ posts, according to a draft list of new cabinet members seen by the AFP. Hun Sen’s nephew, Neth Savoeun, the current powerful national police chief, will be deputy prime minister.
Hun Manet, 45, a four-star general, was already a member of the all-powerful CPP Standing Committee and has led the Royal Cambodian Army since 2018. In this capacity, he has already met top foreign leaders, including the Chinese President Xi Jinping, a valuable ally. Holder of a doctorate in economics from the University of Bristol in Great Britain, he was the first Cambodian to graduate from the American military academy at West Point, from which he graduated in 1999. But his solid international career does not guarantee not necessarily a liberal approach or a change from his father’s authoritarian ways.
Former Khmer Rouge cadre Hun Sen, in power since 1985, railed against international criticism of the unopposed elections and said handing over to his son would avoid a “bloodbath for himself”. seize power” upon his death. He also announced that he was not retiring from political life. He plans to become president of the Senate early next year.