The Norodom Ranariddh Party will be changed its name to the Nationalist Party on August 24 in a party's general assembly, Sao Rany, the party's acting president, said Monday.

The change was announced after the party's president Prince Norodom Ranariddh surprisingly declared last Friday that he quit politics to focus on humanitarian activities.

"As the prince resigned from the position of the party's president last week, the board of directors decided to change the party's name to the Nationalist Party in a general assembly on August 24," Sao Rany told reporters after the party's board meeting.

Prince Ranariddh announced in an open letter from France last Friday that he stopped doing politics in order to focus on social and humanitarian affairs to contribute to the national development under the reign of the King Norodom Sihamoni.

The prince's announcement was made just more than two months after his attempt to re-unite the royalist parties--the Norodom Ranariddh Party and the Funcinpec Party-- failed. As a result, there was an internal rift among his party's top leaders.

Prince Narariddh is the son of the former King Norodom Sihanouk and is the elder brother of the present King Norodom Sihamoni.

He had been the first prime minister in 1993 and the president of the National Assembly in 1998.