Police in Svay Rieng province’s Romeas Hek district arrested an opposition-friendly husband on Sunday after a “war of words” with his ruling party-minded wife turned physical, police said.

Romeas Hek district police chief Sam Sam Ol, said that his officers arrested Pov Mae, 40 – a man with a history of drunken domestic altercations with his wife – after he allegedly used a stick to badly beat her during an argument on Sunday night.

“He got drunk and beat his wife on the head with a stick after having a war of words,” Sam Ol said. “He was arrested on the [preliminary] charge of intentional violence.”

According to Sam Ol, Mae had been a Cambodian People’s Party supporter but had jumped ship after several run-ins with local CPP-affiliated authorities over his numerous domestic disputes, including when he tried to burn his house down several months ago.

It was unclear whether the two had been talking politics when the alleged beating occurred, but Sam Ol said that Mae was known to argue with his wife after she attended CPP rallies.

Sam Ol said that Mae’s wife was receiving treatment at the district referral hospital.

Riel Khemarin, a local Cambodia National Rescue Party official, said that Mae wasn’t officially a CNRP member.