Prince Norodom Ranariddh has lost his longtime spokesman to the ruling Cambodia People’s Party. Chea Chanboribo, who was also a secretary of state at the Ministry of Information in 2005, has officially joined the CPP, Chea Chanboribo said yesterday.

“No one can win against the Cambodian People’s Party. Therefore, I am taking the opportunity to serve the nation with the Cambodian People’s Party,” Chea Chanboribo said, adding that he had submitted a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen last Tuesday asking to the join the CPP.

Chea Chanboribo had been a long time ally of the prince, who now leads the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP). He had been a member of the royalist Funcipec party, which formed a coalition government with the CPP. When the prince was removed from the Funcipec Party in 2006, Chea Chanboribo left with him.

Chea Chanboribo said he had become disenchanted with the NRP’s platform, which he described as too centrist to win an election. “Samdech Krom Preah [Norodom Ranariddh] takes a centrist policy. This is not enough,” he said. Prince Ranariddh just wants to collect members to run in an election and then try to form a coalition with the CPP, he explained.

NRP spokesman Pen Sangha said Chea Chanboribo’s defection would not affect the NRP. “He defected for personal reasons; it has no effect on us,” he said.