PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s strongman leader Hun Sen offered a glimmer of hope to the country’s opposition on yesterday — by saying he would stay in power for at least another decade. The 60-year-old, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985, responded to criticism over his tenacious hold on power by promising to step down when he is 74, a reduction from his previous vow to lead until he is 90.
“I became prime minister when I was 32. So I started the post when I was young and I am not yet old. It is a long time, but there is nothing wrong with a long time,” Hun Sen said in a speech broadcast on national radio.
“I will leave power when I am 74,” he added. Cambodia has held general elections every five years since 1993, but Hun Sen has retained power amid a cloud of accusations that his regime suppresses political freedoms and mistreats rights campaigners.
The country goes to the polls in July, but the main opposition leader Sam Rainsy is barred from standing because of a string of convictions against him and has lived in self-imposed exile in France since 2009.
Cambodian PM vows to leave power ‘when I am 74’
