PUBLISHED : 10 Aug 2023 at 04:00
Red-shirt supporters of the Pheu Thai Party have split over the party’s decision to form a political alliance with Bhumajaithai Party and other parties after breaking away from the Move Forward Party (MFP).
A red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) group in the northern province of Chiang Rai yesterday announced it will hold a rally on Sunday in Muang district, in a symbolic move against Pheu Thai’s political U-turn, according to a source.
The group also plans to burn their red shirts, which they wore while attending UDD events over the past two decades, in protest against Pheu Thai’s scrapping of its initial political alliance forged with the MFP, said the source.
Chirachot Phumsitthiphong and Praphan Kaeo-mun, who are former UDD key figures in Chiang Rai, are now leading the movement against Pheu Thai.
Chiranan Chanthawong, another former UDD leader in Chiang Rai, said while she still respects former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, she couldn’t agree with Pheu Thai’s latest political move in forming a new coalition and abandoning the MFP.
In Bangkok, a different group of UDD supporters gathered outside Pheu Thai’s head office yesterday to offer moral support to Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin’s youngest daughter, one of the party’s three prime ministerial candidates and seen as a rising talent in the party.
During a meeting with Ms Paetongtarn, the group asked about the progress of the party’s bid to form a new coalition government.
They assured her they understood the party has a good reason to lead the new government, even though that would mean the Palang Pracharath Party and the United Thai Nation Party would have to be included in the bloc to make that possible.
Ms Paetongtarn said that since the party didn’t win a landslide victory in the May 14 election as it aimed to do, it now has to find another way to muster parliamentary support for its prime ministerial candidate.
Some UDD groups might not understand what Pheu Thai is trying to do in securing the opportunity to become the new government, she said, adding that once in power, the party will be able to push for those policies promised to voters during the last election to be implemented.
A different group of UDD supporters in Pathum Thani also expressed their support for Pheu Thai’s effort to form the new government.