The ruling Cambodian People’s Party is certain of a landslide victory in Sunday’s general election, with Hun Manet, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eldest son and seen as his successor, likely to win a parliamentary seat. Announced.
Hun Manet, 45, who is contesting for a parliamentary seat for the first time, is certain to win the seat, CPP spokesman Sok Eisan said. In 2021, the CPP recognized him as the future prime minister.
Hun Sen, 70, has ruled the Southeast Asian country for 38 years and told Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television on July 20 that Hun Sen, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, has only He said he could become prime minister within three years. Or 4 weeks.
Hun Manet, the eldest son of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, is pictured after voting in the general election at a polling station in Phnom Penh on July 23, 2023 (Kyodo News) ==Kyodo News
Sok Eisan said that although election results were still being counted nationwide, his party was confident of “winning in a landslide.”
“The distribution of seats and how many seats the CPP will win will be known within about two hours,” he told Kyodo News. As of 5 p.m., the voting rate was 84.21%.
Following the 2018 opinion polls, this is the second consecutive year that parliamentary elections have been held without a substantial opposition party.
A total of 18 political parties fielded candidates for the 125-seat lower house of parliament, which has a five-year term.
In the days before and on election day, some groups of overseas Cambodians living in Europe and the United States staged protests against the election, calling it “false and unfair.”
Leaders of the disbanded opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party urged voters to cross out their ballots to invalidate them.