Phnom Penh  - The leader of Cambodia's most powerful labour union, Chea Mony, on Monday said the organization would no longer support any one political party and was no longer politically aligned.

His announcement comes ahead of national elections scheduled for July and is seen by analysts as a blow for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) - the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia's former staunch ally.

"I am not a member of any party," Mony said by telephone. "The union should not be tied to one party so it can be more credible."

The union was formed in 1996 by Mony's late brother, Chea Vichea, who was also a founding member of the SRP, and the some 80,000 mainly garment worker members often provided the numbers for SRP rallies.

Chea Vichea, a activist who often mobilized strikes and rallies of garment workers, was gunned down and killed in broad daylight on a busy city street in January, 2004.

Traditionally, unions in Cambodia have been aligned with, or simply an extension of, one political party or another.

Mony said that must change to help extend member bases and allow unions to push their own agendas free from the perception their complaints were purely politically motivated. (dpa)