Hun Sen set to win by landslide in elections with opposition suppressed and critics purged

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, right, of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) shows off his inked finger, standing next to his wife Bun Rany, left, yesterday

Longtime Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen cast his ballot 10 minutes after polls opened at 7 a.m.yesterday, in an election in which his party is all but assured a landslide victory thanks to the effective suppression and intimidation of any real opposition that critics say has made a farce of democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.

The European Union, United States and other Western countries refused to send observers, saying the election lacked the conditions to be considered free and fair. That left international officials from Russia, China and Guinea-Bissau to watch as Hun Sun voted at a polling station in his home district outside of the capital, Phnom Penh.

The longest-serving leader in Asia, Hun Sen has steadily consolidated power with his strong-arm tactics over the last 38 years. But, at age 70, he has suggested he will hand off the premiership during the upcoming five-year term to his oldest son, Hun Manet, perhaps as early as the first month after the elections.

Hun Manet, 45, has a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as well as a master’s from NYU and a Ph.D. from Bristol University in Britain. He is currently chief of Cambodia’s army.

Despite his Western education, however, observers don’t expect any immediate shifts in policy from that of his father, who has steadily drawn Cambodia closer to China in recent years. SOPHENG CHEANG & DAVID RISING, PHNOM PENH, MDT/AP