The leader of the Sam Rainsy Party, Senator Kong Korm, has accused the party’s former president and current opposition leader Sam Rainsy of not respecting a promise to cut short the term of fellow senator Thak Lany.

In a letter written by Korm last month following a meeting of the party’s permanent committee, he suggested that Rainsy had gone back on his word by not appointing a new senator to take Lany’s place.

“President Sam Rainsy has turned against his word when staying in Paris regarding the case of Mrs Thak Lany,” the letter, published online yesterday, reads. “If [he] stuck to the truth, he must change [senators] after half a term.”

It was not immediately clear why Korm had desired Lany to vacate the post, and he declined to comment on the spat yesterday, saying it was an “internal party issue” and that Lany had published the letter herself to stoke controversy.

Rainsy, who is currently in France, did not respond to an emailed request for comment by press time.

Lany could not be reached yesterday.