Cambodia ruling party expected to sweep elections

(21 Jul 2023)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4445489

RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Phnom Penh - 1 July 2023
1. Wide campaign trucks driving down a road
HEADLINE: Cambodia ruling party expected to sweep elections
2. Tracking shot of trucks driving through
ANNOTATION: Cambodians will be heading to the polls on July 23 to elect a new leader.
3. Wide of Hun Sen speaking at a campaign rally
4. Mid of Hun Sen speaking
ANNOTATION: Hun Sen, seen here at this election rally, has been Cambodia’s autocratic prime minister for nearly four decades and is Asia's longest-serving leader.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Phnom Penh - 20 July 2023
4. Election billboard showing Hun Sen and honorary president of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) Heng Samrin
5. Sign showing Hun Sen and Heng Samrin
ANNOTATION: But the 70-year-old former communist Khmer Rouge fighter says he’s ready to hand over the country’s reins to his oldest son, Hun Manet.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Phnom Penh - 21 July 2023
6. Various of Hun Manet campaigning
ANNOTATION: Hun Manet is a western educated, West Point graduate and his background has given hope to some in the West that he might bring political change.
ANNOTATION: With the only credible challenger barred from running, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party is virtually guaranteed another landslide victory.
ANNOTATION: It is not clear when, or even if, Prime Minister Hun Sen will hand off to his son during the next five-year government term.

STORYLINE:
Hun Sen has been Cambodia’s autocratic prime minister for nearly four decades, during which the opposition has been stifled and the country has grown increasingly close to China.

With his Cambodian People’s Party virtually guaranteed another landslide victory in this Sunday’s election, it’s hard to imagine a dramatic change on the horizon. But the 70-year-old former communist Khmer Rouge fighter and Asia's longest-serving leader says he is ready to hand the premiership to his oldest son, Hun Manet.

With the only credible challenge to the CPP barred from participating in the elections on a technicality, Cambodians are being offered little choice but to vote for the ruling party again.
The arrests over the past week of several leading opposition figures have served to help stifle visible support for anyone but the CPP on the streets of Phnom Penh.

Hun Manet graduated from West Point and has a master’s degree from New York University and a doctorate in economics from Britain’s Bristol University.

His background has given rise to hope from some in the West that he might bring political change, but it will still take work to regain influence in the southeast Asian country of 16.5 million, given China's strategic and economic importance, said John Bradford, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

It is not clear when — or even if — Hun Sen will hand off to his son during the next five-year government term, though most seem to think it will happen early enough for Hun Manet to establish himself in the job before the next election.

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