JISEAS Issue Paper No. 25

"2023 Cambodian General Election: an Election for Power Succession"

by Yeonsik Jeong

Abstract

Cambodia’s seventh general election was held in Cambodia on July 23. The Cambodian People's Party (CPP), the ruling party, won 120 out of 125 seats in the House of Representatives with 77.89% of the vote. What drew more attention than the Party's victory was the fact that power was passed through the election. It was unusual in that it was a collective succession of power in which Prime Minister Hun Sen's eldest son, Hun Manet, succeeded to the Prime Minister's post while others passed their ministerial positions to their children. The landslide victory of the CPP was made possible by excluding rival parties from the election as well as the disappearance of alternative forces and the expansion of the Party's support base. In an electoral authoritarian system like Cambodia, winning an election is a legal tactic to eliminate competitors and to replicates the victory through a legislative dictatorship. The CPP activated this mechanism in the 2023 general election, completing the hereditary power succession leading to permanent power and evolving into a pseudo-democracy in which undemocratic attributes become rarely visible.

* Please find the attached file for JISEAS Issue Paper No. 25.