PM Hun Sen Party Wins When Opposition Is Prohibited From Participating In Elections, Hun Manet Will Be The Successor Of Power

Documentation - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen/ANTARA PHOTO/ICom/AM IMF-WBG/Afriadi Hikmal/wsj/aa.

JAKARTA - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party won the majority of seats in the general election held on Sunday (23/7) without any competitors after the main opposition party was banned from taking part in the election.

According to the preliminary tally seen by Kyodo on Monday, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) led by Hun Sen received 120 of the 125 seats in the National Assembly. Meanwhile, the royalisFUNCINPEC won the remaining five seats.

The National Election Committee is expected to release official election results around the beginning of next month.

Reported by ANTARA from Kyodo-OANA, Monday, July 24, CPP's arch rival, the Light Candle Party, last May was declared not allowed to participate in elections by the National Election Committee because it was considered an administrative defect.

Light Lilin won nearly 20 percent of the board of commercial seats up for grabs in last year's regional elections.

The removal of opposition parties from elections in Cambodia is seen as an attempt to perpetuate the CPP to continue to power.

A similar situation occurred in 2018 when the Supreme Court dissolved the opposition party of the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) ahead of the election. At that time, CPP managed to win all 125 seats in the National Assembly.

Hun Sen has served as prime minister for 38 years. His leadership at CPP is expected to immediately move to his son.

When interviewed by Hong Kong TV station PhoenixTV on Thursday (20/7), Hun Sen said after the election, in the next three to four weeks, he would hand over power to his son, HunManet (45).

HunManet graduated from the US Military Academy at WestPoint and earned a doctorate fromristol University, England. He is now Deputy Chief of Staff of the Cambodian Army.