Prime Minister Hun Sen has reaffirmed that his oldest son Hun Manet will be his successor as Prime Minister if he is elected.

Speaking during the inauguration of a new sewage treatment facility in Preah Sihanouk province on December 2, Hun Sen said Manet will be the candidate to succeed him, though he did not specify a time frame.

“I declare today that I support my son to be my successor as prime minister, but through election, not by any other means,” he said in an apparent response to his critics who said he had prepared for his son to take power.

Manet is currently deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and the commander of the army's infantry.