In a bid to woo the youth vote during a Kampong Speu province rally yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s son promised to build a football stadium for the province, and perhaps a university.

Hun Many, a lawmaker for Kampong Speu and head of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia, yesterday urged the 3,000 strong crowd to survey the streets around them and behold the works of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

“Did we have Choun Nath Park in 2012? Did we have the Independence Monument in 2012?” Many asked.

“These are the achievements of our national government ruled by the CPP.”

“There is only one option for youth. The future is the CPP . . . Who loves sport? Do you want to be in the national football team? . . . We will build a stadium for Kampong Speu.”

The premier’s son went on to say he would “work hard” to build a university in the province, though he did “not dare to promise” it.

Chhay Thorn, minister for statistics and planning, told supporters that “other parties never care about people’s needs”.

Opposition spokesman Yim Sovann said while Many had clearly conflated the provision of public services with the ruling party, he trusted the people were smart enough to know that taxes and aid paid for those public works, not the CPP.

“When the CNRP is in power, we will do much better than that, because we will have no corruption … [so] we can collect more money and build more infrastructure than the CPP,” he said.

Additional reporting by Erin Handley