NEWLY-elected Premier General Hun Manet, the eldest son of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, is expected to take over as his successor four or five weeks from the time the elections took place on Sunday.
Hun Sen is guaranteed to win after Sunday’s general election, with his behemoth Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), facing no opponent, a one-sided ballot described by critics as a sham.
A leadership reshuffle is expected before late August where his 45-year-old son Hun Manet could possibly take over.
Hun Manet, the commander of the Royal Cambodian Army, suspended his army duties on April 24.
The plan is to make him run as a parliamentary candidate in July’s national elections, which would make him eligible to become Prime Minister.
Hun Sen, the so-called Cambodia’s strongman who ruled the country for nearly 40 years, stressed that his son’s plan to run for elections in accordance with the Cambodian constitution and an application of his political rights.
The Secretary-General of the Royal Academy of Cambodia said that the possibility of Gen.
Hun Manet becoming the next prime minister is not new, as the party members have already agreed to accept him while his father has announced his candidacy several times in public.
