House Speaker and former Democrat Party leader Chuan Leekpai admits he is concerned about the party’s waning popularity although he believes the party will never become extinct in the South, its traditional stronghold.
In an interview with Thai PBS on Saturday, he expressed worry about the party’s standing in some southern constituencies where competition will be stiff in the next poll.
However, although confident the party will not be wiped out entirely, Mr Chuan conceded there has been pressure from within to replace its leader, Jurin Laksanawisit. He himself had declined to serve as acting leader because Mr Jurin won the party’s mandate and deserved to stay the course. Also, a change of party leadership now in the build-up to the election would be ill-timed, he said.
However, Mr Chuan said some party members’ dislike of Mr Jurin was not the real reason they had defected, rather their motives were more to do with their fear of losing their seats.
One former Democrat member told him they had been offered 200 million baht by another party in exchange for defecting and working to clinch a clean sweep across a whole province in the next poll.
But other Democrats have remained steadfast with the party, reasoning that turning back on the party at this time makes them look untrustworthy. Mr Chuan added some parties currently only exist for vested interests and would not last long.
He said certain senior politicians had left the Democrats, preferring to be MPs high up on the list system of a certain small party that is ready to form a coalition government with any political bloc. “The conflict [in the Democrats] might remain but it won’t get any worse,” he said.
“I have asked our party members to not be perturbed by what’s going on and stay the course and help the party out,” Mr Chuan said.
Meanwhile, Mr Jurin declared in Songkhla on Sunday that the next poll would be a battle between the Democrats and parties that either used money as bait to win votes or those that lured defectors from other parties.