PHNOM PENH – Cambodians voted on Sunday in a one-sided election sure to delay the ruling celebration’s dominance of politics, clearing the trail for a historic management transition and the top of the reign of one of many world’s longest-serving premiers.
The contest is successfully a one-horse race, with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), a political behemoth with an enormous battle chest, dealing with no viable opponent after a ruthless, years-long crackdown on its rivals.
Activists have dismissed the election as a sham, with CPP up in opposition to 17 largely obscure events, none of which received seats within the final election, in 2018.
Long queues shaped at polling stations by way of the morning. By midday (0500 GMT), 6.2 million of the 9.7 million eligible voters had forged ballots, based on National Election Committee official Dim Sovannarom.
Former Khmer Rouge guerrilla Hun Sen, 70, has led Cambodia for 38 years and has disregarded Western concern concerning the election’s credibility, decided to forestall any impediment in his rigorously calibrated transition to his anointed successor and eldest son, Hun Manet.
No timeframe had been given for the handover till Thursday, when Hun Sen signaled his son “could be” prime minister subsequent month, relying on “whether Hun Manet will be able to do it or not”. He must win a National Assembly seat to grow to be prime minister, which is probably going.
Like father, like son?
Hun Manet, 45, wearing a inexperienced safari shirt, smiled and posed for selfies with supporters after voting within the capital Phnom Penh earlier than a throng of media.
He ducked questions on the prospect of turning into premier and whether or not he would rule in a different way from his father. “No comment please, no comment please. I’ve just come to vote,” he stated in English, smiling.
Analysts had anticipated the transition to return mid-term, giving time for Hun Manet to earn legitimacy with the general public and political elite.
“Transferring power while he is still physically and mentally well allows Hun Sen to strongly protect his son from any internal challenges,” stated Gordon Conochie, adjunct analysis fellow at La Trobe University and writer of a brand new e book on Cambodia’s democracy.
“As long as Hun Sen is around, nobody will move against Hun Manet.”
Hun Manet has given few media interviews and no clues over his imaginative and prescient for Cambodia and its 16 million folks.
He earned a grasp’s diploma at New York University and a doctorate on the University of Bristol, each in economics, and attended the West Point navy academy, serving to him rise by way of the ranks of Cambodia’s navy to military chief and deputy armed forces commander.
Major powers shall be watching carefully for indicators of whether or not Hun Manet will preserve the authoritarian establishment of his father or pursue better liberalization and a extra Western model of democracy.
A key focus shall be if he seeks to steer Cambodia out of the orbit of China and patch up ties with the United States which have perennially been strained by his father’s iron-fisted method.
Hun Manet obtained a rock-star reception at an enormous rally on Friday, the place he promised a vote for the CPP was for a vibrant future” and warned of unspecified “extremist” attempts to “destroy the election”.
‘Peace and prosperity’
The rhetoric echoes that of Hun Sen in his vitriol against opponents and pre-emptive strikes since May that have included disqualifying the CPP’s only meaningful rival, the Candlelight Party, over a paperwork technicality.
Authorities also banned self-exiled opposition figurehead Sam Rainsy and 16 allies from voting and contesting elections for two decades for urging Cambodians to destroy their ballots.
Some did that on Sunday, posting pictures on social media of spoiled ballots, some with writing that disparaged Hun Sen, calling him a coward. Pro-government Freshnews said authorities were investigating, while other media reported one person was arrested for taking a ballot home.
Hun Sen cast his vote just outside the capital, kissing his ballot paper before posting it and smiling for cameras with an ink-stained finger.
His CPP’s selling point has been its rural development and ensuring peace and stability after decades of war, which helped spur average growth of more than 7% until 2019, creating jobs in garment manufacturing and construction.
“I do not actually need extra from the brand new chief,” voter Nin Sinath, 58, said on Hun Sen’s succession. “I’ve what I would like now, we’ve peace and prosperity for the folks already.” —Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
