A day after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced his son Hun Manet would take over the role in August, Hun Manet told the public on Thursday he would follow his father’s words.
“I will always remember my father’s words and be determined to apply them in all circumstances,” the future prime minister Hun Manet posted on his Facebook page.
He expressed gratitude toward his father.
“When you become the Prime Minister of Cambodia, you have to protect the peace to ensure the development and people’s happiness,” Manet wrote.
Ruling CPP spokesperson Sok Eysan declined to elaborate on who would serve in the next cabinet until the new government is formed on August 22.
When asked by a CamboJA reporter whether Sar Sokha, Secretary of State for the Education Ministry, will be placed in his father Sar Kheng’s position as Interior Minister, Eysan would not say.
Hun Manet will become prime minister on the afternoon of August 22, according to his father’s Wednesday speech. Hun Sen said that Ministers Sar Kheng, Tea Banh, and Men Sam An and Heng Samrin, president of the National Assembly, will leave their positions to become part of the Supreme Council of Magistracy in the new government.
“[Some] other ministers will not become ministers again. [They] will sit at the National Assembly as lawmakers because we are too old,” Hun Sen said.
Other ministers would become advisors to the government or senators, he said.
“Some senators are too old, some are 80 years old and some nearly 80 years old. It is time to leave. Too old, can’t work and have to think about their health and give opportunities to the new successor generation,” he added.
Newly elected National Assembly members, many of whom are related to other government officials, reflect a broader transition of power to a younger generation of ruling CPP elites within the country.
Government spokesperson Phay Siphan said he did not know which ministers or how many would change their government positions and said an official government statement would come “soon.”
“How can I reveal [the information], as I know nothing,” he said.
On the morning of July 23, Hun Manet and his wife voted at Toul Kok Primary School in Phnom Penh polling station. Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife voted in Kandal province.
According to the preliminary results of the election, the ruling CPP received 120 seats while the royalist Funcinpec Party received five seats in the National Assembly.
