Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her Lao counterpart flew into Cambodia on Tuesday to pay their respects to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s late father, Hun Neang, an official said.
Hun Neang passed away at the age of 89 in the early hours of Friday morning. His funeral will be held this morning at Mr. Hun Sen’s compound in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district, after which Hun Neang’s body will be buried at Vongkut Borei pagoda in Sen Sok district alongside his late wife.
“Thai Prime Minister Yingluck and Lao Prime Minister [Thongsing Thammavong] paid their respects at about 3 p.m., and now they’ve already left,” said Chhin Ketna, secretary-general of the National Committee for Organizing National and International Festivals.
Mr. Ketna said that Ms. Yingluck’s brother, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra—an ally and former economic adviser to Mr. Hun Sen—and Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngyuen Tan Dung had already paid their respects to Hun Neang on Sunday and Monday, respectively.
The Phnom Penh Municipality issued a statement, dated Saturday, asking the National Election Committee (NEC) to tell all political parties that election campaigning would not be allowed on a number of streets surrounding Mr. Hun Sen’s compound and along the funeral procession route.
“From July 13 to 17, no meetings, no election campaign processions and making noise around the funeral at the prime minister’s house,” read the statement, signed by Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong.
The procession route includes Russian Federation Boulevard, it said.
NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha said he had not issued a specific ban on campaigning around the funeral.
The funeral is expected to draw a crowd full of high-ranking figures in the government and the CPP.
