{"id":77659,"date":"2023-01-30T12:15:31","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T01:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=77659"},"modified":"2023-01-30T12:15:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T01:15:31","slug":"the-end-of-the-beginning-for-the-cambodian-peoples-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-end-of-the-beginning-for-the-cambodian-peoples-party\/","title":{"rendered":"The end of the beginning for the Cambodian People\u2019s Party"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Cambodia stood between past and future in 2022\u2014balancing completion, new beginnings and legacy creation. As Cambodia\u2019s first electoral term with a one-party National Assembly under the Cambodian People\u2019s Party (CPP) drew to a close, the party prepared for an upcoming generational transition.<\/p>\n

In December 2021,\u00a0Hun Manet<\/a>\u00a0was endorsed by his father, Prime Minister Hun Sen, and his party as the country\u2019s\u00a0future prime minister<\/a>. A photo of what was allegedly 2023\u2019s young incoming cabinet was circulated. The CPP\u2019s key concern in 2022 was to ensure a transition void of surprises. The scions of the old guard slated to become ministers gained public prominence and power constellations settled around them. Manet raised his profile, including as the head of Central Youth CPP, which gained visibility as its members eagerly displayed their allegiance to the successor-in-waiting.<\/p>\n

Manet and his wife Pich Chanmony also implanted the idea of themselves as the country\u2019s future first couple through their leadership of the organisation Samdech Techo Voluntary Youth Doctor Association, which having combated the Covid-19 pandemic celebrated its 10-year anniversary.<\/p>\n

The imminent end of an era led by the military fighter (neak tosour<\/em>) generation of CPP leaders also brought in sight the end of Hun Sen\u2019s rule (Samay Decho<\/em>), which is likely just a few years away.<\/p>\n

Hun Sen sought to build a legacy as peacemaker, who through the \u2018win-win policy\u2019 defeated and integrated remaining Khmer Rouge forces by 1998. The ubiquitous slogan \u2018thank you peace\u2019 (orkon santhepheap<\/em>), which cast Cambodia\u2019s everyday normality as attributable to and contingent on Hun Sen\u2019s leadership, referred in equal measure to the 2017 dissolution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.<\/p>\n

Construction of memorials to honour the \u2018win-win policy\u2019 began in\u00a0Anlong Veng<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Pailin<\/a>, complementing another memorial under construction in Koh Kong, as well as Phnom Penh\u2019s larger monument. On 20 June last year, a\u00a0commemoration ceremony<\/a>\u00a0was held in Koh Thmor X-16, where Hun Sen crossed to Vietnam as a young Khmer Rouge commander to gather forces to overthrow the Khmer Rouge regime.<\/p>\n

The area was developed during the year, integrating Hun Sen\u2019s entire political career from 1977 into a longer arch of peacemaking in official historiography. Hun Sen\u2019s receipt of the\u00a02022 Sunhak Peace Prize Founder\u2019s Award<\/a>, presented in Seoul in February, supported the narrative of the\u00a0Samay Decho<\/em>\u00a0as an era of peace.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0resurrection of the Candlelight Party<\/a>\u00a0from the ashes of the Sam Rainsy Party raised the possibility of the return to genuine, though severely limited, electoral competition ahead of national elections that are set to be held in 2023. In commune elections on 5 June 2022, the Candlelight Party won 22% of the popular vote against 74% for the CPP. The election results established the Candlelight Party as Cambodia\u2019s main opposition party.<\/p>\n

The ambiguous election results hit a sweet spot, temporarily lowering the risk of party dissolution. In the wake of the elections, the CPP continued to rely on legal strategies to weaken the Candlelight Party\u2014seeking first to\u00a0dissuade any contestation<\/a>\u00a0of election results and second to\u00a0sever bonds<\/a>\u00a0with its popular founder, Sam Rainsy. In parallel, the CPP continued its campaign against the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party. Three mass trials were completed, each of which saw dozens of party leaders and activists convicted on conspiracy charges.<\/p>\n

Despite, or because of, the stifling political landscape, a labour conflict at Phnom Penh\u2019s NagaWorld casino became a visible disturbance in the capital\u2019s centre\u2014in November, Chhim Sithar, president of the striking union, was\u00a0re-arrested<\/a>\u00a0and sent to pre-trial detention.<\/p>\n

On its\u00a0third outing as chair of ASEAN<\/a>, Cambodia pushed for direct engagement with Myanmar\u2019s military government. This was Hun Sen\u2019s attempt to transpose what he considered to be his political legacy of peacemaking onto the global stage. In January last year, Hun Sen was the first head of government to visit Naypyidaw since the February 2021 coup, to push for the implementation of ASEAN\u2019s five-point consensus. But as the year wore on, the junta\u00a0proved itself impervious<\/a>\u00a0to Hun Sen\u2019s masterplan.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine brought Hun Sen and his government the recognition they had sought in Myanmar. Surprising all, Cambodia took a\u00a0pro-Ukrainian stance<\/a>\u00a0on the orders of Hun Sen. This earned Cambodia the reinvigorated friendship of Western countries after the chilling of relations that followed 2017\u2019s political crackdown. In December, on a trip to co-chair the first ASEAN\u2013EU commemorative summit in Brussels, Hun Sen was\u00a0warmly received<\/a>\u00a0by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris\u2014severely undermining exiled opposition leader Rainsy\u2019s claim to the support of the international community.<\/p>\n

As the electoral term drew to a close, the feat of the Cambodian government became clear\u2014it had dramatically increased the acceptance and even popularity of what had been an unpopular government over the dissolution of the CNRP at the beginning of its term.<\/p>\n

With serious international and domestic challenges absent, the end of the\u00a0neak tosour<\/em>\u00a0era amounted only to the end of the beginning for the regenerated CPP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cambodia stood between past and future in 2022\u2014balancing completion, new beginnings and legacy creation. As Cambodia\u2019s first electoral term with a one-party National Assembly under the Cambodian People\u2019s Party (CPP) drew to a close, the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1663,"featured_media":77661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[189,214,753,25],"class_list":["post-77659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-asean","tag-cambodia","tag-election","tag-southeast-asia"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe end of the beginning for the Cambodian People\u2019s Party | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-end-of-the-beginning-for-the-cambodian-peoples-party\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The end of the beginning for the Cambodian People\u2019s Party | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cambodia stood between past and future in 2022\u2014balancing completion, new beginnings and legacy creation. 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