The 21st Century Starts Tomorrow
- By Cambodianess
- January 1, 2023 10:00 AM
An ASEAN chairmanship and summit commended by all, a European tour during which he appeared side by side with French President Emmanuel Macron, an invitation to visit the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh: The year 2022 will not have lacked powerful and positive images for Prime Minister Hun Sen as he is about to step down in the coming year.
Encouraged by its major victory in the commune elections, the Cambodian People’s Party—his party—looks quite confidently on the upcoming national elections of July 2023 and already sees itself having more than an absolute majority in the next National Assembly. Being the candidate selected by this party for the position of prime minister, Hun Manet should therefore succeed his father and lead a government presented as being rejuvenated.
Will the son manage to make his mark as his father’s tutelary figure will remain omnipresent? Hun Manet is of course not his father’s candidate but his party’s candidate. However, he will be in any event the successor of his father who will have gone down in the country’s history during his lifetime.
Will he manage to establish himself and to really turn the page on the 20th century for Cambodia? This is what is at stake in 2023.
