Is being in a fight an action?
The main opposition party, the Move Forward Party ( MPP ), has recently expressed sympathy for the ruling Pheu Thai Party, leading to accusations that the hostility may have been staged.
Two recent developments have been noted that point to the possibility that the two largest events may have already kissed and made up following Pheu Thai’s criticism by MFP for breaking their post-election pledge to form a government up.
Instead, Pheu Thai collaborated with the ruling party by inviting the events of the Bhumjaithai, Palang Pracharath, and United Thai Nation to the coalition, leaving MFP out in the cool.
The MFP had had the opportunity of nominating its next president, Pita Limjaroenrat, to be leading with the help of Pheu Thai. Mr Pita’s charge was rejected openly by the Senate.
An alleged meeting between prominent political figures hailed as the actual movers behind Pheu Thai and the MFP took place as the sand was starting to settle over the coalition development in Hong Kong.
What transpired behind closed doors is anyone’s guess, but it was reported that the conference raised the possibility that the MFP might one day replace the liberal bloc in the coalition line-up if and when that was done.
The” Hong Kong deal” first skepticism was first sparked when the MFP started putting a slap-on-the- wrist strategy to tracking and reinforcing the Pheu Thai-led government’s performance.
The MFP’s last-minute about-face in Pathum Thani, leaving the Pheu Thai’s possible prospect the likely winner, has raised skepticism in the last few months.
The MFP’s decision to not run a prospect perplexed both its supporters and political spectators. After all, Pathum Thani has been a reliable supporter, winning a close vote next year. If the group had put up a prospect, it would have stood a very good possibility of clinching the PAO chair.
The MFP’s press team apparently made a report to the media on May 16 that Pathum Thani’s potential candidate Chaithawat Tulathon was scheduled to meet with the party. However, this was immediately canceled, and the meeting’s facts were taken out of the Line chatroom, which was used to exchange information with writers. There was no justification for the in-the-minute withdrawal.
The gathering executives made the announcement the day after the election that they had decided not to support a member from another party and to challenge the PAO election.
The organization claimed that it was pressed for time to find a suitable prospect.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the MFP was heavily involved in a domestic discord when choosing a applicant. Any such fight could have been settled, which would have prevented it from withdrawing from the poll, which has now given Pheu Thai the upper hand in the PAO competition.
Finally, on May 23, another development occurred, which made critics believe the MFP was cosying up to Pheu Thai.
Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, an MFP record MP, bemoaned the time the country has wasted on defense dictatorships in a post on his X website.
” It’s unfortunate that the younger generation’s age is a sign of a lack of usefulness.” Their period has been lost because of the coups”, he said.
He asserted especially that a certain percentage of the population had been driven and preoccupied to remove a particular person from the nation in 2006.
Former leading Thaksin Shinawatra fled before he was found guilty of abuse of power over the Ratchadaphisek land package in 2008, Mr. Wiroj said.” That individual has now returned only to see the country also mired in triple standards.”
After returning home next month, Thaksin received a royal reprimand, which saw his prison term reduced from eight times to one month. He is now on probation.
Mr. Wiroj also made reference to the People’s Alliance for Democracy’s 2006 anti-Thaksin mass protest, which culminated in the coup d’etat plan created by then army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who later founded the Council for National Security ( CNS ).
Mr. Wiroj’s X communication immediately received negative reviews for using words that appeared to be friendly to Thaksin, who is thought to still have a significant influence on Pheu Thai.
Along with the MFP’s decision to avoid the Pathum Thani PAO surveys, his comment has given credence to rumors that the MFP and Pheu Thai may be working together to form a new partnership, with Pheu Thai remaining as the party’s main opposition.
If that were the case, it may mean the government would be expelled from the liberal camp.
The debate, however, has been dismissed by Mr Chaithawat, who ruled out a Pheu Thai- Stock partnership. He insisted the two events are, by nature, strong rivals and, therefore, cannot combine.
The MFP may re-nominate Mr. Pita as the group’s prime ministerial member in the event that a social “mishap” occurs, such as the Constitutional Court decision against Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin over Pichit Chuenban’s appointment as PM’s Office secretary.
A social observer believes that the MFP has every cause to play tight.
Pheu Thai’s worst fear, according to the most recent study conducted by King Prajadhipok’s Institute, is that the MFP is gaining more than 200 votes in the upcoming election, or at least 100 more than Pheu Thai.
Voting antics
Social observers anticipated difficulties as a result of the small prospect turnout, but the June 9 district-level voting in the Senate election ended without any technical issues.
Somchai: Crying foul
23 645 individuals have already passed the municipal round of voting that will be held tomorrow, in which their number in 20 career teams will be whittled down to 3, 080 across 77 regions.
Although there was no organized support, several well-known candidates made it through the first round, but things may change tomorrow, according to political observers.
Many of the 46, 206 candidates who registered for the June 9 vote allegedly were n’t genuine candidates who wanted to use their respective fields of expertise to pass laws.
Known as “hired” candidates, these people did not join the race to win but to fix the vote, according to the observers.
They contend that these candidates were the agents of political parties, political pressure organizations, or business interests trying to influence the outcome of the Senate election.
Because they were instructed to cast their votes for someone else rather than themselves, these candidates could easily be cut off from the genuine applicants and received zero scores.
In caretaker senator Somchai Swangkarn’s view, attempts were made to fix the Senate race. He argued that any genuine candidate must have received at least one vote from themselves.
He even went on to say that the results of the provincial-level vote would confirm his theories about concerted efforts to fix the poll, and he attributed the failure of the Election Commission (EC ) to carry out proper qualification checks to weed out unqualified candidates.
Stithorn Thananithichot, director of the Office of Innovation for Democracy at King Prajadhipok’s Institute, told the Bangkok Post that as well as the “hired” candidates, “designated senators” are hidden among the 23, 645 winners of the June 9 vote.
” They are among those who pulled through, but it’s impossible to know who they are. What we can be certain of at this point is that some candidates have organized support for them, he said.
The analyst believes that the “hired” applicants in some districts where there are a few high-profile candidates may have advanced enough to compete in the election of tomorrow and even have a chance of qualifying for the national voting round.
The first of its kind, which involves both intra- and inter-professional groups, is a three-step process in which candidates choose between themselves both within the same group and across professional groups at the district, provincial, and national levels.
3, 080 candidates from across the nation will vote in the national Senate election on June 26 to challenge for the 200 Senate seats. On July 2, the election results are anticipated to be released.
According to Mr. Stithorn, the number of well-known candidates in the next round is thought to be at best around 80.
For the general public, these candidates are favourites, but in reality, they are not, without their own organised support.
” These high- profile candidates with actual experience and solid backgrounds can fall too in tomorrow’s voting”, said Mr Stithorn.
He added that many of the shortlisted candidates were pro-conservative and would support the old power clique if they were elected senators. These candidates are not politicians, and they are mostly unheard of.
The political or business organizations that support them do n’t compete with one another. It’s decided where these people should contest. According to him, these organizations are reportedly holding a final list of at least 150 candidates for Senate seats.
Olarn Thinbangtieo, a political science lecturer at Burapha University in Chon Buri province, said surprisingly, several candidates from civil networks sailed through in the June 9 vote, but it is hard to say whether they will make it to parliament.
” After the provincial level, we’ll see the picture more clearly… if the candidates have affiliations with the old guard or political parties.
However, he asserted that he is certain that the new Senate will have plenty of members eager to defend the interests of the previous power groups.
The 250-member Senate, which was appointed by the junta as a caretaker body, will be replaced by the new batch of 200 senators on May 10. Its five-year term ended on May 10.
The Constitutional Court will hear arguments over the constitutional controversy that will be settled on Tuesday, in addition to the allegations of vote-rigging.
The constitutional authority that governs the Senate election is the legality of four provisions in the organic law. But the EC decided to proceed, saying it found no reason to justify halting the election.