Trio enter race to be leader of Democrats
Abhisit, Alongkorn, Warong vie for votes
The Democrat Party kicked off its leadership contest yesterday with three candidates formally announcing their intention to vie for the top post.
Incumbent party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, former party deputy leader Alongkorn Ponlaboot and former Democrat Phitsanulok MP Warong Dechgitvigrom will now spend the rest of the month lobbying party members nationwide to vote for them as party leader.
Voting via mobile application will take place between Nov 1-5 while those who prefer traditional ballot casting can do so on Nov 5 at venues designated by the party. Each province will have at least one polling unit.
The voting will proceed under a new selection system where former MPs nominate candidates for the general membership to vote on. The party will hold a general meeting to endorse the winner of the members’ ballot and appoint 41 executives on Nov 11.
The leadership contest had a lively and friendly start with supporters turning up with flowers and banners to cheer their candidates on.
All the three arrived at the party head office before candidacy registration opened at 8.30am.
Under the party regulations, candidates for the leadership must be endorsed by at least 20 former MPs.
A draw was held to assign numbers to the three men. Mr Alongkorn also excused himself from drawing a number and instead asked for No.3, while Dr Warong drew No.2, leaving No.1 to Mr Abhisit.
Deputy leader Jurin Laksanavisit and party secretary-general Juti Krairiksh supervised the leadership candidacy registration which closed at 4.30pm.
According to Mr Jurin, almost 100,000 registered members who have confirmed membership this year have secured the right to vote.
He said about 2.5 million people who failed to update their membership status with the party by April can also vote if they confirm their status while new party members can take part in the selection if they apply by Oct 15.
Mr Abhisit, who took the party’s helm for 13 years, yesterday welcomed the enthusiasm and said he hoped to see the momentum carry on until election day.
He said while canvassing for support could trigger spats it should not lead to divisiveness and affect the party as a whole.
He insisted that the party under his leadership will not support dictatorship and said if it is to form a coalition government, its partners must have shared values.
Dr Warong said yesterday it is not unusual for the candidates to have some similar policies because they are from the same party. However, certain policies do differ, he said.
“In this competition, we’re fighting for the party and it’s more like a brotherly contest,” he said.
Mr Alongkorn said that under his watch, the party would not support an “outsider prime minister”, a term referred to the person who is not on political parties’ lists of nominated candidates.
Meanwhile, a political scientist at Wanwichit Boonprong, of Rangsit University, said the Democrat leadership race has been carefully crafted to circumvent the regime’s ban on political activities and get an early start to woo voters ahead of the general election.
Krisa-ong Suwanwong, leader of Thai Network Party, echoed Mr Wanwichit’s views, saying the Democrat nomination process is clearly a canvassing strategy.
In her opinion, the other two contenders did not stand a chance against Mr Abhisit.