Jim Gerrand, an Australian independent filmmaker who has chronicled Cambodian life since his first documentary in 1971-72, said: 'In recent years he has been trying to win broader acceptance, not just in Cambodia but internationally. The [Cambodian People's Party] is trying to project a cleaner image.

'There is much less violence at this election than in 2003 and before, and they are projecting stability,' he said.

Ultraconservative and prudish, with a temper, Hun Sen was credited with ending illegal television broadcasts by pornography channels, and during routine crackdowns on the capital's nightlife has ordered women to wear dresses below the knees, forced bars to close, and at times banned western music and dance. More than 300 schools bare his name.

Hun Sen blames the UN for introducing HIV/Aids during the early 1990s, which is not without foundation, and like too many middle-aged men, he enjoys a drink, and is prone to exaggerating his golf handicap and delivering intense off-the-cuff public rants.

Late last year, he launched into a tirade about lesbianism as a social ill. He then offered a rare glimpse into his private life and revealed his adopted daughter was a lesbian, and while he was prepared to accept homosexuality in the broader community, he was launching legal action to disown her.

Many were shocked by the prime minister's outburst, and some insiders claim this was partly why Hun Sen, as in previous polls, has vowed to keep his mouth shut throughout the election campaign.

In understanding the 'strongman' of Cambodian politics, what is known of his military record needs to be taken into account. He loathes being referred to as a former Khmer Rouge cadre. Once Pol Pot blanketed the country with an iron grip in April 1975, many men and too often the children were forced into the countryside to hard labour or were jailed. Many were executed.

Those close to Hun Sen say this was the making of him.

Within the Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen was a lower ranking member of the Eastern Zone, which was never fully trusted by Pol Pot and his lieutenants because of its proximity and cross-border links with Vietnam, a sworn enemy.

Still, he lost an eye in the fighting and sent for nurse Bun Rany, whom he had known earlier. They were married in 1976.

Gerrand - whose latest work focuses on Hun Sen's rise and includes hours of unseen interviews - said the couple were devastated when their first child died during the Khmer Rouge period.

'He has seen plenty of death and violence, but when it comes to his own family it's very raw, which is quite a difference to the detachment you need as a soldier. I think he is very proud of his family.' he said. 'The first-born baby died in very sad circumstances and this is a wound.'

Hun Sen became a deputy regional commander as incursions into Vietnam were escalated at about the same time a purge of the Eastern Zone forces was ordered. He fled across the border, but was not immediately trusted by Hanoi.

He had, however, arrived with Pol Pot's military strategy for Vietnam, and won Hanoi's confidence as his warnings of cross-border incursions into the southwestern province of Tay Ninh proved correct. Thousands were massacred by Khmer Rouge raids, and Hanoi ordered the invasion of Cambodia on Christmas Day 1978.

As the carnage of the Khmer Rouge years unfolded - a third of the population was dead and Cambodian society decimated - Hun Sen became ensconced in the new regime, serving as foreign minister from 1979 to 1985, which included a brief tenure as prime minister, before being formerly named to the top post.

Then the cold war drew to a close and Vietnamese occupation ended in 1989. The UN arrived two years later after a Cambodian peace agreement was reached in Paris and set about restoring democracy through the 1993 poll. It was won by the royalist Funcinpec party, whose affluent allegiances belonged with the revered monarch, King Norodom Sihanouk.

Hun Sen's mean streak prevailed. He refused to accept the result and bullied the UN and Funcinpec into an arrangement with Prince Norodom Ranariddh as first prime minister and Hun Sen accepting the post of second prime minister.

Fighting also continued albeit at a lower level after the UN failed to disarm the warring factions. Bickering festered and Hun Sen ousted Prince Ranariddh in a bloody coup in July 1997, won elections 12 months later, then masterfully organised a series of high profile Khmer Rouge defections, which by the end of 1998 had extinguished more than 30 years of civil war.

It was only then that the marathon process to put Pol Pot's henchmen in the dock for war crimes could begin. 'There are only two highly articulate men in Cambodia that have the capacity to lead and are survivors, and that's Hun Sen and Norodom Sihanouk,' said veteran British journalist and commentator Jim Pringle. 'But Hun Sen has the power through the barrel of a gun, while Sihanouk has only the prestige.'

King Sihanouk abdicated almost four years ago in favour of his son, King Norodom Sihamoni.

Pringle said Hun Sen still had his ruthless streak and remained a capable politician, but he also held absolute power, which after years of intimidation no one was willing to challenge, and this had delivered some stability, even a kind of tranquility back to Cambodia.

'Could he win a free and fair election if it was not for that absolute power? He tried in 1993 and lost.'

Economically, Cambodia continued to suffer as the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98 ricocheted across the region, but the tenuous peace held, and the CPP began removing guns from the streets and mines from the countryside.

Foreign aid arrived as Phnom Penh received a lick of paint and Cambodians discovered new markets including tourism, garments and logging.

Throughout this development, political killings have not been uncommon, a fire sale of national assets such as forests and pristine beaches has upset donor nations, a violent culture of impunity continues, and a judiciary that too often seems incapable of imposing the rule of law proves frustrating at all levels of society.

But like the rest of Asia, the Cambodian economy is running fast and enjoying a wave of growth not seen since before the Khmer Rouge. And Hun Sen, who has ruthlessly swatted down those who dared oppose him, appears set to ride this well into the next decade.