Cambodia’s national assembly has officially elected the eldest son of outgoing premier Hun Sen to be the country’s new prime minister, a transition of power likened by some to a Southeast Asian version of North Korea’s dynastic leadership.

Hun Manet, 45, a four-star general in Cambodia’s military, was elected by all 123 members of Cambodia’s lower house of parliament who were present for the vote on Tuesday.

“Today is a very important, historical day for the Kingdom of Cambodia,” Hun Manet told lawmakers after the vote.

Hun Sen announced that his son would replace him as prime minister shortly after claiming victory for his party in widely-criticised national elections last month that excluded any serious electoral competition – all but five of the 125 seats were won by members of his Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

A plethora of other ruling party officials will also move aside to make way for children and other relatives to step into their shoes in other government offices.

Hun Manet now has the prime minister’s title but Hun Sen will remain very much at the centre of power and politics in Cambodia – symbolically and literally, according to observers and the political opposition.

Exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy said that Hun Manet’s assumption of office does not mark “a significant change in the political landscape of Cambodia”.

“In reality, Hun Sen will continue to pull the strings,” Sam Rainsy wrote in a commentary on Sunday.

Hun Sen, 71, also announced that he is not moving far from the levers of power, stating that he will become president of the Senate and continue to serve in other positions for at least another decade.

In an August 3 speech shortly after announcing his resignation as prime minister, Hun Sen promised not to interfere with the incoming government led by his son but he also reminded the country that he could come back if necessary.

“I do not want this country to be in turmoil,” Hun Sen said at the time.

Hun Sen reiterated on Tuesday that he had “not run away” from the public, and called on people to “calm down”, noting that he would become president of the Senate early next year.

Hun Sen also criticised analysts who said he had transferred the post of prime minister to his son but not real power.

“This is very ignorant analysis,” Hun Sen told journalists at the National Assembly following the vote.

A Western investor in Cambodia, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera that “nothing much has changed” since the announcement that Hun Sen would step down.

Hun Sen will remain the true centre of authority in Cambodia, the investor said, adding that it is when Hun Sen is no longer present that a true power transition occurs and that will be a crucial test for Hun Manet, the ruling party and Cambodia’s stability.

Nevertheless, Hun Sen’s voluntarily stepping back from his much-loved title as one of the world’s longest-serving leaders is hugely significant.

It is a leadership transition in a country that Hun Sen has strictly ruled over for almost 40 years.

Hun Sen stepping aside also signals to Cambodians that despite his decades of power and control over almost all aspects of life in their country, even the self-styled “Strong Man” leader cannot outlast the march of time.

Cambodians interviewed during the recent election told Al Jazeera they had little information about Hun Manet or what to expect from the handover.

Analysts say that not much is likely to change.

Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council for Foreign Relations, a New York-based think tank, said Hun Sen’s “handing power to his son” was the “equivalent of a North Korean dynastic transition”, adding that repression was likely to continue to ensure there was no dissent during “a potentially fragile transition”.

Corruption that plagues Cambodia could also increase “as Hun Manet spreads patronage around to consolidate his rule”, Kurlantzick wrote earlier this month.

A political analyst in Phnom Penh told Al Jazeera, on the condition of anonymity, that there is much unease and unhappiness – expressed privately – among party members that Hun Manet was elevated to the top job despite having no proven track record in Cambodian politics.

Party members were finding it hard to imagine, the analyst said, how more experienced and older ruling party members were expected to take instruction and direction from a relative youngster.

Source: Al Jazeera 

BDST: 1005 HRS, AUG 22. 2023
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