The US criticised elections in Cambodia on Sunday as “neither free nor fair” after strongman Hun Sen claimed a landslide victory, setting the stage to transfer power to his son.
Hun Sen said his Cambodian People’s party won 120 of 125 National Assembly seats, according to unofficial results, with five for the royalist Funcinpec party. The largest political opposition party was barred from contesting the poll.
The US state department said Cambodian authorities relied on “a pattern of threats and harassment against the political opposition, media and civil society” and that it would impose visa restrictions on individuals and pause certain aid programmes.
Hun Sen, who claimed sole power in Cambodia nearly 40 years ago, recently endorsed his son, a military commander, as his successor.