Hun Manet succeeded his father, Hun Sen, as Cambodia’s dictator following fraudulent elections in July, in which the ruling Cambodian People Party’s “won” 96% of parliamentary seats. Since then, the new prime minister has been shoring up international support for the transition.
Prior to the ruling party’s victory, members of the main opposition party, Candlelight, were attacked in broad daylight and the organization was banned from participating in the elections on a bureaucratic technicality.
Barely weeks after the EU and U.S. had condemned his father’s government for stealing the vote — with Japan adopting the milder stance of closely watching the situation “with concern” — Hun Manet was being offered the trappings of international legitimacy.