Prince Norodom Ranariddh said through a spokesman Friday he would stay in politics, despite recent statements from other royal family members that they would be leaving public life.
Prince Sisowath Thomico, whose small political party, the Sangkum Jatiniyum Front, recently joined Prince Ranariddh's party, said this week that in a Cambodia with a mature political system, royalists would not be necessary. But that time was not now.
Prince Norodom Chakrapong has said he will quit as NRP vice president, and Princess Norodom Vicheara has been quoted in local newspapers as intending to leave politics.
NRP spokesman Muth Chantha quoted Prince Ranariddh as saying he will still run the party he started after leaving Funcinpec, which is still the government coalition partner and considered the main royalist party.
"Prince Ranariddh still thinks that, first he still wants to serve the people, the nation, and he respects the constitution, which is Cambodia's supreme law, and the international laws to which Cambodia is a signatory country," Muth Chantha said.
