Longtime CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap suffered a minor stroke on Saturday and is currently recovering at the government-run Calmette Hospital, according to a ruling party spokesman.

Cambodian People’s Party spokesman Sok Eysan said the 72-year-old lawmaker was feeling exhausted on Friday and saw a spike in his blood pressure on Saturday, causing the stroke.

Eysan added that Yeap’s condition was currently stable and not serious.

“On Monday morning, I visited him at the hospital and he can talk normally, but the doctors have not allowed him to return home because they need to monitor his condition,” Eysan said.

Yeap, who currently serves as the head of the National Assembly’s Commission on Economy, Finance and Banking, started his career as a high school teacher from 1965 to 1975, after which he fled to Vietnam during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.

The Prey Veng province lawmaker courted controversy in 2013 when his car, which he was not driving, was involved in an alleged hit-and-run case. The case was widely criticised for legal inaction but was quickly resolved by Yeap after he paid the victim’s family compensation.

National Assembly spokesman Leng Peng Long said the lawmaker was expected to return to work soon and was one of the two ruling party lawmakers to miss yesterday’s vote on the Law on Political Parties.