Locals paraded a caricature statue of Cambodian dictator Hun Sen at a vibrant ghost festival in Thailand.

Footage shows the towering effigy of the Senate President, with his body stylised to resemble a monitor lizard, being carried through the streets of Phuket Island on September 15.

The annual procession was held on the eighth waning day of the tenth lunar month, a date rooted in Buddhist tradition.

Residents gathered to march giant effigies of 'Pret', or hungry spirits, as part of a longstanding ritual to honour ancestors and offer spiritual merit.

Villagers typically construct ghost figures with elongated limbs, skeletal bodies, and exaggerated features, which are then paraded through the streets before being brought to Ban Don temple for merit-making ceremonies.

In Thai culture, the monitor lizard is often viewed negatively, with associations to misfortune, aggression, and untrustworthiness.

Hun Sen, who served as Cambodia's Prime Minister for nearly 40 years before becoming President of the Senate in 2023, has long been criticised for his authoritarian leadership and crackdown on political opposition.

He was initially a Khmer Rouge soldier, having joined the hardline communists at the age of 18 in 1970, and was part of the atrocities against his own people. However, in 1977, he defected to Vietnam, a year before they defeated the genocidal party.

Hun Sen forged a political career that has seen his family become multi-billionaires, with critics claiming his wealth has been plundered from the state in a similar fashion to Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.

Thailand and Cambodia have a fractious history. The Khmer Empire once stretched across much of Southeast Asia before the ancient leaders moved their base south to Phnom Penh in the 16th century amid water shortages.

The Siam Empire then slowly emerged when Thai tribes used it as a chance to claim much of the deserted land, including priceless sandstone temples and artefacts.