Kandal (FN), Jun. 22 – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that there will be many capable candidates in the future leadership of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), not only his son Hun Manet.

Manet is Cambodia’s Army Commander who has recently been promoted from deputy head to head of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP)’s Central Youth Working Group. Graduated from West Point Military Academy in the United States, he is also a member of the Permanent Committee of the CPP Central Committee.

“In Cambodia, there are other candidates apart from Hun Manet. However, on behalf of his father, I will support and educate him to unleash his fullest potential,” Strongman Hun Sen said Monday during his visit to the construction site of the new international airport in Kandal province.

“If he is not capable as his father, he might get at least 80 to 90 percent out of me. Yet, it depends on people’s voices. The first concern is whether the party would accept him. The second is the general elections,” said the premier.

The premier’s reaction came after the opposition group criticised the appointment of Hun Manet as the leader of the CPP's Central Youth Working Group. They also accused the premier of transferring power to his son.

“Every day, all they talk about is [transferring power to Hun Manet]. I already confirmed that I will be prime minister for another 10 years. By then, Manet will be 50 years old. It would be possible because I became the leaders since I was 32,” he said.

"For the next generation, not only Hun Manet is capable, and time will tell you who is capable enough to succeed me? But you [the opposition] must remember that as long as the CPP is here, you have to wait until next life,” Premier Hun Sen underlined.

He also urged the opposition groups to learn to observe the CPP closely.

“The CPP’s vision is not just for two or three years, but for the next 50 or 100 years,” the premier said, adding that “We invest on infrastructure and human resource building. We are not the short-serving leader like all of you.”
=FRESH NEWS