Cambodia’s king has appointed Hun Manet to take over as prime minister, in a transition from the nearly four-decade-long rule of his father Hun Sen, after their party scored an easy victory in a lopsided election in July.
King Norodom Sihamoni issued a royal decree on Aug. 7 formally endorsing the 45-year-old Mr. Hun Manet, the eldest son of the outgoing prime minister, as the successor to the country’s leadership.
Mr. Hun Manet will be sworn in on Aug. 22 when a new cabinet is formed following the vote of confidence. The National Assembly is dominated by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).
Mr. Hun Sen had earlier expressed the intention to hand over the premiership to his son. Speaking to reporters on Aug. 3, he said the country’s situation is “stable enough” for the change in leadership.
“First of all, transferring this position to the next generation now means the process would be far more stable and secure than doing it when I am getting older or dead,” Mr. Hun Sen said at a public event.
“So, it is time that I leave. Today will be the last time I address a public event as prime minister.”
However, Mr. Hun Sen said that in the event that his son encountered “life-threatening incidents,” he would reclaim the country’s leadership and choose the next successor to prevent any chaos.
International Leaders Cry Foul
The CPP secured 120 out of 125 parliamentary seats in the July 23 election. But the polls were widely denounced as a sham because of the disqualification of the sole viable opposition—the Candlelight Party—on a technicality.Cambodia’s election commission said that voter turnout hit 85 percent, but 440,000 ballots were deemed invalid.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) and international civil society organizations have urged the international community not to lend legitimacy to the CPP as Cambodia’s government.
Charles Santiago, APHR co-chairperson and former Malaysian member of parliament, said the CPP had threatened opposition supporters with legal action and physical violence, shuttered one of the country’s last independent media outlets, and sentenced opposition leader Kem Sokha to 27 years imprisonment on “ridiculous charges.”
“Given all these blatant efforts to undermine free and fair polls, what happened yesterday in Cambodia can only be called ‘elections’ in the loosest sense of the word,” Mr. Santiago said at a press conference.
Eva Kusuma Sundari, an APHR board member and former member of the Indonesian House of Representatives, urged parliamentarians of democratic countries to unequivocally denounce Cambodia’s election as “undemocratic.”
“These types of so-called ‘elections’ have increasingly become the tools of authoritarian leaders to consolidate their power, undermining elections as one of the core pillars of democracy,” Ms. Sundari said.
“The international community must not fall into the trap of legitimizing this pantomime.”
Numerous Candlelight Party members and supporters were arbitrarily arrested and harassed by the authorities in the days leading up to the elections, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on July 19.
For instance, authorities fined 17 opposition party members and banned them from holding elected office for 20 years after they were convicted in absentia for allegedly inciting voters to spoil their ballots, HRW stated.
“Even though the Candlelight Party has been barred on dubious grounds from the July national election, the authorities still view them as a threat and are suppressing them,” Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director at HRW, said in a statement.
