PUBLISHED : 25 Aug 2023 at 04:00
A group of Democrat Party MPs who broke ranks and voted in support of Pheu Thai candidate Srettha Thavisin for prime minister this week have since blamed their decision on the party’s wavering stance.
They denied aspiring to join the Pheu Thai-led coalition government — the Democrats are not included in the multi-party bloc at this point — and said they were fully prepared to join the rest of the party on the opposition bench.
In Tuesday’s parliamentary session, the 16 MPs unexpectedly voted for Mr Srettha, leaving many pundits flabbergasted as it was understood the Democrats had passed a resolution for its MPs to abstain from the vote.
Led by Det-it Khaothong, a caretaker deputy party leader and Songkhla MP, and Chaichana Dechdecho, a caretaker deputy secretary-general of the party and Nakhon Si Thammarat MPs, the group came out in defence of their action yesterday. Four other party MPs joined them at a press conference.
Mr Det-it said when the party’s MPs met on Monday, they were split into three camps on how to proceed.
He said some thought the party should vote against Mr Srettha’s nomination as the two parties had long been in conflict. Others argued the bitter past should be left behind, which is when the more senior MPs walked out of the meeting, he added.
But a third group said the party should give a supporting vote, as the country had hit a political deadlock and many problems still had to be solved, Mr Det-it added.
Mr Det-it said Jurin Laksanawisit, the party’s caretaker leader, then rose and suggested there should not be a vote over this matter as it was the individual right of each MP to vote as they pleased.
“The meeting ended without a vote,” Mr Det-it said.
When MPs voted on Tuesday, the so-called “renegade” band of Democrats sat huddled together in a separate room, listening to the debates about Mr Srettha’s qualifications. Most of them found Mr Srettha to be acceptable, he said.
When it came to voting, they noticed Mr Jurin had abstained while two other former party leaders — Chuan Leekpai and Banyat Bantadtan — voted against Mr Srettha’s nomination.
Mr Det-it said the inconsistency on the part of the three senior members caused the MPs to conclude the party had not reached a resolution.