Princess Norodom Arunrasmey has resigned as the first vice president of Funcinpec, two months after her half-brother Prince Norodom Ranariddh replaced her as the royalist party’s president, her husband said Wednesday.
“She has resigned. She is also the ambassador to Malaysia, and it is tiring,” said Keo Puth Reaksmey, who also served as Funcinpec’s president in the mid-2000s.
Mr. Puth Reaksmey said his wife’s decision to leave was not due to any dispute with Prince Ranariddh, who has cemented near absolute control of Funcinpec since his return in January.
“Funcinpec is now in the good hands of her brother and she’s a little bit useless to stay in Funcinpec,” he said.
“During the absence of Prince Ranariddh, myself and my wife just tried to preserve the identity of the party. As we saw with the Khmer Rouge, they disappeared with no [parliamentary] seats, and we only had one or two seats, but we preserved the party with our background people.”
Princess Arunrasmey led Funcinpec in the 2008 and 2013 elections in the absence of her brother, who was ousted as president in 2006.
