KANDAL (AFP) – Cambodia’s outgoing Prime Minister Hun Sen lashed out yesterday at international criticism of elections his party won against no meaningful opposition, and defended his decision to hand power to his son as necessary to avoid bloodshed.
The 70-year-old has ruled Cambodia with for nearly four decades but announced last week he was stepping down for his son Hun Manet to take over as prime minister this month.
The move came after his Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won a landslide victory in an election last month condemned by the United States, United Nations and the European Union as not free or fair.
Election authorities disqualified the only serious opposition party on a technicality, paving the way for the CPP to win 82 per cent of the vote and claim all but five seats in the 125-member lower house.
“I can declare that democracy in Cambodia has won,” Hun Sen said on yesterday in his first speech since the polls.
He also defended his handover to Hun Manet, maintaining it was needed to ensure peace in the country should he die in office.
“It could lead to bloodshed in order to grab power,” Hun Sen said. He added that he would ask the king to appoint Hun Manet, 45, as prime minister on Monday so he could form a new government for a confidence vote in parliament on August 22.
The new government will be made up of a new crop of young ministers – some of them also taking posts vacated by their fathers.
While insisting he would not interfere with his son’s rule, Hun Sen reaffirmed that he would continue to dominate the country’s politics.
After stepping down as prime minister, he will become president of the senate and act as acting head of state when the king is overseas.
