Ex-leader says values are no longer clear
The Democrat Party is “beyond crisis” point as it continues to haemorrhage members in the wake of its change of leadership, said former party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva on Monday.
Commenting for the first time since the leadership contest on Saturday, which saw Chalermchai Sri-on elected as the Democrats’ ninth leader, Mr Abhisit used his Facebook page to claim that the party was now at breaking point.
Mr Abhisit also confirmed he was no longer a member of the party during the Saturday session.
“What baffles and distresses me is how much we in this room have realised the gravity of the beyond-crisis state the party is in,” he told the meeting.
Mr Abhisit was nominated in the leadership contest by party patriarch and former Democrat leader Chuan Leekpai. However, Mr Abhisit turned down the nomination and announced his resignation instead.
His refusal to enter the race came after it was reported the party vote may have been engineered to favour Mr Chalemchai, a former party secretary-general and acting leader at the time of the election.
The party’s decline, as shown by its drop in MPs from 53 in the 2019 general election to 25 in this year’s poll, did not stem from its internal structure, regulations or a lack of finances, according to Mr Abhisit.
In fact, at no time in the party’s history had a secretary-general managed to mobilise more support for the party than Mr Chalermchai did while he was occupying the post, Mr Abhisit said.
The party has slumped to a low ebb because people have failed to see what the Democrat Party stands for or what ideals it represents.
In a country split into the conservative and pro-democracy camps, the Democrats have been unable to emerge as a choice for the people.
Voters in the conservative bloc favoured former premier Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, while the pro-democracy side thought the Democrats were a Prayut ally.
“It’s all about establishing where we stand and which groups of people we can represent and in what way.
“Politics has its ups and downs. However, there’s no guarantee a down will be met with a rebound if we don’t learn our lesson,” he said on Facebook, conveying what he told the party election on Saturday.
Critics have said the party under Mr Chalermchai’s leadership could lose its traditional and solid stronghold in the South. The party is also in danger of relying too heavily on winning constituency MPs, which can be highly competitive races.
At one point during the Saturday meeting, Mr Abhisit had a 10-minute break with Mr Chalermchai. Ten minutes later, Mr Abhisit returned to the meeting and announced he had relinquished party membership.
“I declare before you all that I have no plan to defect to another party.
“Slit my wrists, and I bleed blue,” Mr Abhisit said, referring to the Democrats’ emblematic colour.
Also yesterday, more high-profile Democrats and former MPs, namely Sathit Wongnongtoey and Orn-anong Kanchanachusak, quit the party. On Saturday, former party MP and former deputy public health minister Sathit Pitutecha said he had left the party.
Mr Sathit Wongnongtoey said that he had decided to part ways with the Democrats after 28 years as a member because he now believed the party’s principal and true spirit could no longer shine.