Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has been conspicuously absent during campaigning for national elections.
But the spectre of his presence, and the influence of his Cambodian Peoples' Party (CPP) has been very much in evidence. In towns and villages across the country, there is little doubt that the CPP will be the single largest party following Sunday's vote.
So what lies behind the Prime Minister's apparent lack of interest in the poll?
One theory is simple confidence. He was installed by the Vietnamese government in 1979 and has inherited a powerful and pervasive organisational structure.
Cambodia's elections
From the very lowest grass roots, through village town and city administrations to the national assembly itself, the CPP has an infrastructure that focuses on him. And with a strangle-hold on the media he is constantly in the public eye.
Another theory - in this country of conspiracy theories - is that Hun Sen does not need political legitimacy.
His business interests are vast and he and his cronies control billions of dollars of foreign and local money. One source has alleged that no less than $400m are creamed off every year. It is further alleged that the very signature of one senior minister is worth $5,000.
The other theory making the rounds centres on King Sihanouk, the man revered by many as the father of the nation. He brought Cambodia to independence in 1953, and his political legacy lives on through the royalist party, Funcinpec.
The king, despite his undoubted influence, asserts constantly that he is above politics.
Hun Sen's calculated absence from the campaign trail, is thus interpreted by some as a snub. "If the king is above politics, then so am I", would be Hun Sen's message.
Certainly, he has eclipsed his political opponents despite the fact that they have campaigned extensively across the country.
Funcinpec, the junior party in his governing coalition, is not expected to improve significantly on its share of the vote.
The big question is how the opposition party, the eponymous Sam Rainsy Party, will fare.
Sam Rainsy has attempted to sell to Cambodians a vision of clean government, prosperity and modernity. He argues that since the last election in 1998, 1.25 million new voters have become eligible to vote, which is about a quarter of the electorate.
Rainsy's hope is that the youth vote will swing his way.
But in a political culture of patronage and corruption, and in a country where poverty is endemic, few doubt that the absent Prime Minister will continue to have a powerful role in post election Cambodian.
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