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Cambodian leader Hun Sen survived the deadly Khmer Rouge, marginalized the monarchy and crushed his opponents in a 33-year rule defined by favoritism, political agility and repression, which is expected to continue through Sunday's election.
A strong, one-year-old man smiled, waving a finger inked in a voting booth Sunday morning in an election devoid of his only serious opposition.
Hun Sen is part of a small coterie of world leaders who hold power for three decades, adapting to the changing political landscape in the poor country of Southeast Asia since the war cold.
His ruling Cambodian ruling party is expected to win big Sunday after the main Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) opposition party was dissolved by the Supreme Court. November 2017.
In his last campaign speech, before the election, Hun Sen presented himself in a typically explosive form, boasting of legal action to "eliminate traitors who were trying to overthrow the government."
According to him, the victory will be the culmination of years of violence, intimidation and state-run, sponsored by Hun Sen to counter an opposition that has emerged as a serious threat in the last elections in 2013.
It will also mark a nadir "Few opponents in Hun Sen have had the combination of cruelty, cunning and political acumen that have conducted through the repeated cycles of Cambodian history, "said Sebastian Strangio, author of" Hun Sen's Cambodia ". 19659009] He was a cadre in the Khmer Rouge, an ultra-Maoist organization that overthrew the US-backed Lon Nol government and killed a quarter of the population from 1975 to 1979.
But to escape ever deeper purges Upon returning from Vietnam, their army overthrew the Khmer Rouge and was credited as Cambodian savior of a group to which he belonged.
The ambitious veteran was installed as prime minister in 1985, only 32 years old.
– Uncle & # 39; wants your vote –
Hun Sen lost the first election for which he ran in 1993, the vote sponsored by the United Nations being the dawn of a new democratic era.
But he took control in 1997 Before the death of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot
He was accused of piling up the army with fiercely loyal allies, while entrusting security roles keys to parents and his sons in an attempt to build a dynasty. Years later, the Cambodian patron was distributing money and reduced rate loans for infrastructure that left Hun Sen less dependent on a critical West.
Presence visible throughout the country, he goes frequently to the provinces. Cambodia will collapse.
Over the years, he has reshaped his approach by spreading his message on a Facebook page with 10 million "likes" on a platform that could have served the opposition.
clothing workers opted w It once walked with opposition, raising wages for the nearly three-quarters of a million people employed in the key sector.
"I like it as my parents," said garment worker Phoeung La during a recent visit by the prime minister. Nearly 25,000 workers from Kampong Chhnang province
Always on the lookout for populist opportunities, Hun Sen distributed $ 5 envelopes, while pregnant employees received $ 200 from a prime minister who called "uncle"
. You ask the uncle's schools, you ask the uncle for routes, so uncle asks for votes in return. "
– Genius of Survival –
The Cambodian People's Party won all elections from 1998. 19659025] But the frustration with corruption among a young population with little memory of the horrors of the past. Khmer Rouge era gave an opening to new challengers
Formed in 2012, the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) won more than 44% of the vote in 2013 and almost the same in the 2017 local polls. [19659023] But their emerging threat has been stifled.
Sam Rainsy, who co-founded the CNRP but now lives in exile in Paris, said the Hun Sen years in the Khmer Rouge were formative, creating a culture of violence and violence. Impunity that defines Cambodian power.
Nemesis Through Endless Opposing Years Opposition, Rainsy Expresses Reluctant Admiration for Cambodia's Strongman
"Hun Sen Force, I would even say Hun Sen f was part of a small coterie of world leaders that holds power for three decades, adapting to the changing political landscape of the poor country of Southeast Asia since the Cold War
Hun Sen took control during a bloody coup in 1997, a year before the death of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot
Critics say that Hun Sen's political stamina is based on years of violence, intimidation, which em considered a serious threat in the last elections in 2013
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