A former Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker has resigned his membership, pledging to devote the rest of his days to humanitarian work.

Chea Chamroeun, an adviser to National Assembly President Heng Samrin, announced his resignation via Facebook on Friday.

“I have resigned as a member of the CPP and now I have more freedom to work according to my ideals,” he wrote. “I want to do good deeds for our society and nation before I die.”

In his resignation letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen, Chamroeun outlined his service to the CPP since becoming an activist in 1993. He later went on to serve as a government adviser from 2004 and as a member of the National Election Committee in 1998.

CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said yesterday that Chamroeun’s resignation would not have an impact on the functioning or image of the party as he held little influence in the CPP ranks.

“Chamroeun had no influence in our party. He was a normal member, therefore his resignation will not affect our credibility,” he said. “We have more than 5 million party members, so having just one resign is not a problem.”

He added that Chamroeun had indicated he was too busy to continue to contribute to the party as he continued to have significant business interests that required his attention. Chamroeun could not be reached for comment.

Chea Vannath, an independent political analyst, said it was rare for a ruling party politician to resign without a political falling out.

“It is not normal, if we look at previous resignations of politicians from the ruling party, so I think that no [CPP] politicians have asked to resign if they don’t have a [political] problem,” she said.