Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet (C).//AFP
Cambodia’s parliament on Tuesday elected long-time ruler Hun Sen’s eldest son as the new prime minister, sealing a dynastic handover of power after last month’s one-sided polls.
Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won all but five seats in the lower house in the July election, which was widely decried as a sham after the main opposition party was barred from running.
Hun Manet, 45, was elected unanimously at the National Assembly in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, Heng Samrin, the lawmaker who chaired the meeting announced.
After the vote, Hun Manet told lawmakers: “Today is a historic day for Cambodia”.
Days after the July election, Hun Sen — one of the world’s longest-serving leaders — announced he was stepping down and handing power to Hun Manet after nearly four decades of iron-fisted rule.
The largely ceremonial…
