Just getting the job done

The new ruling party, Pheu Thai, has made strides when many thought it had suffered a loss of dignity.

The new ruling party, Pheu Thai, has made strides when many thought it had suffered a loss of dignity.

A recent news report about Paetongtarn “Ung Ing” Shinawatra leading Pheu Thai stalwarts on a march to the Move Forward Party (MFP) headquarters across the road from their own HQ was met with various reactions from observers — perplexed and stunned among them.

The Pheu Thai team went to see the MFP executives directly to ask the party to vote for Srettha Thavisin, the real estate billionaire, to become the next prime minister.

Mr Srettha this week won support from parliament to become the country’s 30th prime minister.

Having been tipped as a strong contender for the top post, he stood alongside Ms Paetongtarn and Chaikasem Nitisiri, the other two Pheu Thai prime ministerial candidates.

Ms Paetongarn had come across as reluctant to pursue the post after her family reportedly gave her bid lukewarm support.

The family was believed to have grown protective of Ms Paetongtarn and even fearful of her future in politics after watching her father, Thaksin Shinawatra, and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra both flee the country as a result of criminal convictions pertaining to their mishandling of power as prime minister.

Mr Chaikasem was also reported to be less inclined to take on the top job on account of his poor health.

An analyst said Pheu Thai did everything possible to ensure Mr Srettha sailed through the joint parliamentary sitting to become prime minister, and the party clearly succeeded.

The Pheu Thai visit to MFP headquarters on Aug 9 serves as a clear indication of the party pulling out all the stops to get what it wanted. However, the visit instantly drew criticism, with many wondering how the party had the audacity to go to the MFP, after having ditched it barely a month before.

MFP leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, had failed to garner sufficient support from the Senate to clinch the premiership, prompting the MFP to hand the right to lead government formation to Pheu Thai, the second-largest party.

Pheu Thai, seeing that it would hit a dead end trying to establish a government with the MFP in the line-up, decided to dump the party and tore up the memorandum of understanding that committed them to building a government.

The MFP drew sympathy from supporters who chastised Pheu Thai for heartlessly splitting from a partner in the run-up to their “wedding” and losing no time in finding another suitor, in this case, the Bhumjaithai Party.

Pheu Thai’s MFP visit was like rubbing salt in the wound, according to the analyst.

On the other hand, some observers thought the visit indicated Pheu Thai was at its wit’s end in soliciting parliamentary support for Mr Srettha’s prime ministerial bid and had to turn to the MFP for help.

Deputy Pheu Thai leader Phumtham Wechayachai even said his party would apologise to the MFP — if it had to — for abandoning it if that was what it took to move the country forward and get a new government up and running.

Pheu Thai’s approach to the MFP was dismissed by some political watchers as undignified.

However, the analyst said Pheu Thai may have been quite shrewd.

Reading between the lines, Pheu Thai reaching out to the MFP was a subtle way of asking the latter to return a favour since all 141 Pheu Thai MPs had voted for Mr Pita to become prime minister in parliament.

If the MFP refused to back Mr Srettha’s prime ministerial candidacy, it would create the impression of being a sore loser.

As it turned out, the MFP did just that. It resolved against voting for Mr Srettha’s prime ministerial bid in Tuesday’s joint session and denounced the coming together of parties in the new coalition as being self-interested.

Before that, Pheu Thai had maintained that backing from the MFP would eliminate the need for the Senate to co-elect Mr Srettha as prime minister, thus avoiding meddling in the selection process by what it called the remnants of the dictatorship.

The senators were appointed by the coup-engineer National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), which ousted the Pheu Thai Party-led administration in 2014.

In other words, Pheu Thai was having the MFP believe its vote for Mr Srettha would be a service to democracy, the analyst said.

The MFP, which is set to occupy the opposition benches after vowing not to compromise on its stand to amend the lese majeste law, had been warned that refusing support for Mr Srettha would leave Pheu Thai with no choice but to approach the “uncle” parties — United Thai Nation (UTN) and Palang Pracharath — to join the coalition.

And join the coalition they did.

Even though the combined strength of Pheu Thai and Bhumjaithai, which commands 76 House seats, was not enough to nullify the Senate’s influence in the joint PM vote, Pheu Thai received the backing of many senators who retain close ties to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha as well as Pralang Pracharath leader Gen Prawit Wongsuwon.

Gen Prayut led, and Gen Prawit had a prominent role in the NPCO, which hand-picked the senators.

In Tuesday’s prime ministerial vote, Mr Srettha pulled in 482 of the 747 MP and senator votes to place him securely in the prime minister’s office.

A party riven by division

How Democrat Party MPs voted in the prime minister selection on Tuesday has revealed a much deeper division within its ranks than first thought, according to observers.

Disagreement has built up for weeks within the party over whether it should be part of the coalition being formed by Pheu Thai. The internal row is believed to be the reason why the party twice failed to elect a new executive board and a new leader to succeed Jurin Laksanawisit, who stepped down following the May 14 election.

A group closely linked to acting party secretary-general Chalermchai Sri-on is widely known to be open to joining Pheu Thai’s coalition after the Move Forward Party (MFP) failed to form a government.

Rumour has it that Democrat MP for Songkhla, Dech-it Khaothong, who is also acting deputy leader, flew to Hong Kong to discuss forging a political alliance with deposed prime minister and alleged de facto leader of Pheu Thai, Thaksin Shinawatra, last month.

A deal was reportedly struck in which Mr Chalermchai’s group was promised one ministerial post and one deputy minister post in the soon-to-be-named cabinet in exchange for Democrat support of Pheu Thai’s prime minister candidate.

However, the Democrats failed to elect a new executive board in an Aug 6 meeting due to a lack of quorum, making the party unable to adopt a resolution on whether to enter the coalition. Clearly frustrated, Mr Chalermchai told the media the lack of quorum was not natural and that it was an orchestrated act to undermine party unity.

Due to the leadership vacuum, the Democrat Party is not yet part of the coalition line-up announced on Monday, which preceded the prime minister vote on Tuesday in which Pheu Thai’s Srettha Thavisin won endorsement as prime minister.

The 12-party alliance led by Pheu Thai comprises Bhumjaithai with 71 seats, Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) with 40 seats, United Thai Nation (UTN) with 36 seats, Chartthaipattana (10), Prachachat (9), Pheu Thai Ruamphalang (2), Chartpattanakla (2), Seri Ruam Thai (1), Plung Sungkom Mai (1) and Thai Counties (1).

On selection day, Democrat MPs met to discuss how they should vote and agreed that the best course of action was to abstain as the party had not been offered a place in the new government.

But as it turned out, only six of the 25 MPs toed the party line. Sixteen Democrats were not present in the chamber when their names were called during the vote, letting six colleagues, including Mr Jurin, cast an abstention vote.

After two senior party figures — Chuan Leekpai and Banyat Bantadtan — broke ranks to vote against Mr Srettha, the 16 MPs returned to the chamber and voted for him.

“When we saw Mr Chuan and Mr Banyat break party ranks, we questioned why we should stick to the party’s stance,” said an MP in the group.

It was reported that Mr Chuan and Mr Banyat, who are former Democrat leaders, had asked for party permission to vote against Mr Srettha. According to sources, Mr Dech-it and Nakhon Si Thammarat MP, Chaichana Detdecho, told deputy Pheu Thai leader Phumtham Wechayachai on Monday that their group was ready to vote for Mr Srettha if he could eventually muster the required votes in return for being included in the coalition.

The pair told Mr Phumtham the group would still vote for Mr Srettha even if Pheu Thai managed to mobilise enough support in parliament to successfully push Mr Srettha’s bid for prime minister.

The pair said the group could fill in if Bhumjaithai decided to withdraw over discontent with cabinet seat allocation.

According to a source close to the Democrat group against Mr Srettha’s nomination, Mr Chalermchai’s group is unlikely to rush the selection of a new party leader and board, and any issues requiring a party resolution can be reviewed by the interim executive board.

According to observers, the split means trouble ahead for the country’s oldest political party, and a showdown between the two camps will soon unfold.

“It remains to be seen who will stay with the party and who will be expelled. One has 21 MPs backed by Mr Chalermchai while the other has four, but it is led by Mr Chuan [who is the party’s patriarch],” said an observer.

According to Mr Jurin, the renegade MPs will be called upon to explain their actions at the next party meeting and could be subject to an internal investigation if members call for it.