Feb 21, 2024
Cambodia PM’s Brother Becomes Deputy in Push to Extend Power
Bloomberg News
,![Hun Many in Phnom Penh on Feb. 21. Photographer: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images, Photographer: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images Hun Many in Phnom Penh on Feb. 21. Photographer: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images](/polopoly_fs/1.2037685.1708569146!/fileimage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/hun-many-in-phnom-penh-on-feb-21-photographer-tang-chhin-sothy-afp-getty-images.jpg)
(Bloomberg) -- The younger brother of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet was appointed deputy premier in the family’s latest move to consolidate its long-held grip on the Southeast Asian nation.
The country’s National Assembly approved the appointment of Hun Many on Wednesday, according to state media, some six months after the West Point-educated Hun Manet officially assumed the role of prime minister. Their father Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia after nearly four decades, stepped aside last year as part of a broader generational shift among the ruling elite, its first since a rebellion against the Khmer Rouge in 1979.
Cambodia’s Hun Sen Seals Political Dynasty as Son Becomes PM
Hun Manet contested in elections in 2023 for the first time after rising through the armed forces ranks to become a four-star general. The ruling Cambodian People’s Party nearly swept the vote after the main opposition was barred from participating for a second time.
Last month, a Phnom Penh court denied opposition leader Kem Sokha’s request to review the terms of his home detention after he was sentenced last year to a 27-year term on a treason conviction, a decision that rights groups say was politically motivated.
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