After last month’s one-sided election, Cambodia’s parliament voted on Tuesday to appoint outgoing PM Hun Sen’s oldest son as the new prime minister. This solidifies a dynastic transition of power in the country.
- Hun Manet, the former prime minister’s eldest son, is a member of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party’s (CPP) powerful permanent committee.
- Hun Manet has an economics degree from England and graduated from the US military academy West Point, but there are few expectations that he will uphold Western liberal ideals when he succeeds his father as Cambodia’s prime minister.
- Married with two daughters and a son, Hun Manet has already served as commander of the Royal Cambodian Army since 2018.
- Born on October 20, 1977, the princeling graduated from West Point in 1999 and has more recently met world leaders, including President Xi Jinping of China, Cambodia’s main ally and benefactor.
- The 45-year-old four-star general has only contested a parliamentary seat for the first time in July’s election, a poll criticised internationally as neither free nor fair.