Brother named chief adviser in move seen as paving the way for possible tie-up with Pheu Thai
PUBLISHED : 29 Jul 2023 at 10:57
UPDATED : 29 Jul 2023 at 21:11
Gen Prawit Wongsuwon has been re-elected as the Palang Pracharath Party leader, hours after stepping down from the position on Saturday morning.
The resignation of Gen Prawit, who also serves as a caretaker deputy prime minister, was strictly a procedural move, as the party board was also obliged to step down under the rules. That set the stage for the voting process to elect a new party leader and a 21-member executive board.
Palang Pracharath MP Atthakorn Sirilatthayakorn nominated Gen Prawit for the top post, and he was the sole candidate.
The unofficial voting results showed that Gen Prawit had made a comeback as the party leader. The five new deputy leaders elected are Santi Promphat, Paiboon Nititawan, Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, Wirat Rattanaset, and Trinuch Thienthong.
Gen Prawit’s younger brother Pol Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwon, an unelected senator and former national police chief, was also appointed as the party’s chief adviser. That move was seen as possibly paving the way for the PPRP to join a new government if a deal can be reached with the Pheu Thai Party, according to sources
Capt Thamanat Prompow, a key figure of the PPRP and MP for Phayao, became the party’s secretary-general again. He, along with 20 other MPs under his control, had been ousted from the party last year for plotting against Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Before the voting started, Mr Paiboon said, “Gen Prawit will remain in the party and will always look after it.”
According to a party source, Gen Prawit did not attend the meeting.
This week, the election-winner Move Forward Party (MFP) stressed that it will not form a government with the PPRP and the United Thai Nation (UTN) Party as its coalition partners, calling them “remnants of a dictatorship”.