A formality verifying the transfer of power has approved the long-reigning leader of Cambodia‘s eldest son to be the nation’s new premier.
Hun Manet will succeed Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 38 years, according to a decree the country’s king issued on Monday.
Just days after the 23 July election, which detractors claimed was not democratic, Hun Sen made the announcement that he would retire.
After the main opposition was disqualified from voting, his party won every seat in parliament with the exception of five.
Hun Sen requested the official note in a letter, and King Norodom Sihamoni responded by issuing the royal proclamation.
The Royal Cambodian Army‘s 45-year-old commander, Hun Manet, has long been cultivated for a position of authority.
Although Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party now holds 120 of the 125 members in the National Assembly, the confirmation of his appointment by parliament is still pending as of August 22.
The appointment is the result of a dynastic succession plan that Hun Sen had been indicating for a while.
Younger people are anticipated to be in Hun Manet’s new government. Many of the individuals who rose to power alongside Hun Sen during the Khmer Rouge revolution and civil war of the 1970s and 1980s have also left their positions, often giving them to their own children.
Prior to July, it was unknown when the change would take place after it was first mentioned in 2021.
But only three days after the election, Hun Sen made his resignation public. He has ruled the 16 million-person South East Asian country for nearly four decades, making him one of the world’s leaders with the longest terms in office.
He claimed at the time that he was stepping down to maintain stability in Cambodia.
Hun Sen will continue to be the leader of the Cambodian People’s Party, which political observers claim still gives him total authority.
Since taking office in 1985, his administration has grown more autocratic, and he has suppressed critics by imprisoning or expelling them.
Hun Sen celebrated his 71st birthday over the weekend and also announced the party’s resounding victory in the July election, which the US, EU, and other Western countries have criticised as being neither free nor fair.
In honour of the election outcome on Saturday, Hun Manet shared a photo on Instagram with the remark, “Happy birthday to respected and beloved father.” The snapshot showed his son giving Hun Sen a bunch of flowers.
Hun Manet’s election as a Phnom Penh MP was also recognised by the departing leader on Saturday, removing the final formal barrier to his rise to power.
Hun Manet will face few threats from outside the ruling party because all significant opposition has been silenced in Cambodia in recent years. Maintaining the intricate network of ties his father established with other affluent and prominent families, however, will be difficult.
To keep potential rivals satisfied and the economy expanding, Hun Sen granted them political and commercial rights. However, he also left Cambodia with alarmingly high levels of corruption and inequality, which could cause problems for his young kid.
Some have hypothesised that Hun Manet, who attended the University of Bristol and the US military institution West Point, will run a less harsh government than his father and will be more sensitive to Western concerns for human rights.
Analysts claim that there is no proof that he might be more open, though. Hun Sen has also stated that he will have a strong grip on the country’s governance for at least another 10 years.
Hun Sen stated of his son’s appointment in a telegraph message on Monday: “It is not the end yet. I’ll keep working in other capacities at least until 2033.
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