Ly Thuch, senior minister and a member of the permanent committee of Funcinpec party,

asked to resign from the party, said party spokesman, Nouv Sovathero.

In a letter to Keo Puth Rasmei dated April 9, Thuch, the second deputy president

of the National Committee for Disaster Management, wrote that he was too busy with

his government job to continue serving the party.

Sovathero said he could not confirm rumors that Thuch was leaving Funcinpec for the

ruling Cambodian People's Party.

Thuch is former Minister of Rural Development and chairman of the National Assembly's

Commission of Economy, Planing, Investment, Agriculture, Rural Development, Environment

and Water Resources.