Song Hong
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PHNOM PENH - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, said on Wednesday that he will resign and hand over power to his eldest son in August, after almost four decades of hardline rule.
“I would like to ask for understanding from the people as I announce that I will not continue as prime minister,” he said in a special broadcast on state television, adding that his son Hun Manet will lead a new government.
“I met the King, and declared I won’t continue the position as prime minister any more,” Mr Hun Sen said in a nationally televised address. “I must sacrifice and relinquish power.”
Mr Hun Sen, who has ruled the South-east Asian country for 38 years, said his son will be appointed to the post by the King on Aug 10 and Parliament will confirm the new premier with a vote on Aug 22.
The outgoing leader said the situation in Cambodia would become unstable if he continued to stay in office and that it is “very necessary for a new Cabinet of all young people” to assume control as “they are responsible for the future”.
He was speaking just days after his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) swept a general election after running virtually unopposed.
But Mr Hun Sen will not disappear into retirement. He said he would be staying on as head of the ruling party and a member of the National Assembly.
He recently said he would step back in to the prime minister’s job if his son does not perform well.
Opposition politicians, most of them in self-exile, and rights groups say Mr Hun Sen has for years suppressed democratic institutions while party colleagues and relatives have benefited from a range of business concessions.
The government has rejected accusations of corruption within its ranks levelled over the years by opposition politicians, rights groups and environmental activists.
In 1993, Mr Hun Sen rejected the result of a landmark election organised by the United Nations (UN) aimed at ending a conflict that had endured since Cambodia was dragged into the Vietnam war in the late 1960s.
He entered an uneasy coalition with his royalist rivals only to oust them in a bloody takeover in 1997.
A former mid-level commander of the communist Khmer Rouge, Mr Hun Sen responded to attempts by the United States and other Western powers to press him to support democracy by moving closer to China.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement on Wednesday: “It is concerning that Cambodia has witnessed a constant shrinkage of democratic space in recent years, undermining fundamental freedoms and the right to participate in public affairs.”
But Mr Hun Sen is also credited with establishing peace and lifting Cambodia to middle-income status, improving health, education and infrastructure during his 38 years in power.
Western-educated military general Hun Manet, who has said little of his vision for the country, won a seat representing the capital Phnom Penh in Sunday’s election.
Critics denounced the polls as a sham after the government disqualified the main opposition party on a technicality and threatened to penalise anyone calling for a boycott.
The CPP won the last election, held in 2018, after an earlier incarnation of the same opposition party was disbanded by the Supreme Court.
The newly elected Parliament will convene on Aug 21 and a new Cabinet will be sworn in on Aug 22, Mr Hun Sen said
“I would like to ask for understanding from the people as I announce that I will not continue as prime minister,” he said in a special broadcast on state television, adding that his son Hun Manet will lead a new government.
“I met the King, and declared I won’t continue the position as prime minister any more,” Mr Hun Sen said in a nationally televised address. “I must sacrifice and relinquish power.”
Mr Hun Sen, who has ruled the South-east Asian country for 38 years, said his son will be appointed to the post by the King on Aug 10 and Parliament will confirm the new premier with a vote on Aug 22.
The outgoing leader said the situation in Cambodia would become unstable if he continued to stay in office and that it is “very necessary for a new Cabinet of all young people” to assume control as “they are responsible for the future”.
He was speaking just days after his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) swept a general election after running virtually unopposed.
But Mr Hun Sen will not disappear into retirement. He said he would be staying on as head of the ruling party and a member of the National Assembly.
He recently said he would step back in to the prime minister’s job if his son does not perform well.
Opposition politicians, most of them in self-exile, and rights groups say Mr Hun Sen has for years suppressed democratic institutions while party colleagues and relatives have benefited from a range of business concessions.
The government has rejected accusations of corruption within its ranks levelled over the years by opposition politicians, rights groups and environmental activists.
In 1993, Mr Hun Sen rejected the result of a landmark election organised by the United Nations (UN) aimed at ending a conflict that had endured since Cambodia was dragged into the Vietnam war in the late 1960s.
He entered an uneasy coalition with his royalist rivals only to oust them in a bloody takeover in 1997.
A former mid-level commander of the communist Khmer Rouge, Mr Hun Sen responded to attempts by the United States and other Western powers to press him to support democracy by moving closer to China.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement on Wednesday: “It is concerning that Cambodia has witnessed a constant shrinkage of democratic space in recent years, undermining fundamental freedoms and the right to participate in public affairs.”
But Mr Hun Sen is also credited with establishing peace and lifting Cambodia to middle-income status, improving health, education and infrastructure during his 38 years in power.
Western-educated military general Hun Manet, who has said little of his vision for the country, won a seat representing the capital Phnom Penh in Sunday’s election.
Critics denounced the polls as a sham after the government disqualified the main opposition party on a technicality and threatened to penalise anyone calling for a boycott.
The CPP won the last election, held in 2018, after an earlier incarnation of the same opposition party was disbanded by the Supreme Court.
The newly elected Parliament will convene on Aug 21 and a new Cabinet will be sworn in on Aug 22, Mr Hun Sen said
