‘Worst is over’ for Pheu Thai
The Pheu Thai Party has been battered by a series of political misfortunes of late and it is facing a hard time to get back to its former glory.
The former ruling party, which won a landslide victory in the 2011 election that subsequently installed Yingluck Shinawatra as prime minister, has its hands full preparing for the Feb 24 general election. However, it has been gripped by fear of dissolution and rocked by the defection of its stalwarts to its sister party, the Thai Raksa Chart Party.
Critics have had a field day analysing the ill fortune befalling the party. They believe the party may be in danger of disintegrating as it seems to be shrinking in size.
Despite the problems plaguing the party led by the low-key Viroj Pao-in, one man has vowed to remain with the party through thick and thin.
Chalerm Ubumrung, a Pheu Thai key executive, reckons the worst is over for the party, and that the Pheu Thai possesses enough resilience to pull through the next poll unscathed.
He has given his assurance that Pheu Thai is not heading towards disbandment, nor that it is losing its lustre.
Concerns had mounted at one point that many of the party’s former MPs will not qualify to run in the election as a result of the National Anti-Corruption Commission’s (NACC) probe into 34 former ministers of the Yingluck cabinet.
The former ministers, who were also Pheu Thai members, were embroiled in the controversy over the cabinet’s decision in 2012 to disburse 1.9 billion baht in state compensation to families of red shirts who had lost their lives in the street protests before the Yingluck administration came to power.
The NACC accused the former ministers of approving the compensation without any legal basis to support it.
However, Mr Chalerm came to the aid of the former ministers, and the party’s legal team helped the former ministers furnish their defence to the satisfaction of the NACC. Mr Chalerm said he did not believe there are any grounds to prosecute the former ministers.
Critics have said the fate of the 34 former ministers may be tied to the party’s. However, it may be true that even if the politicians are prosecuted, Pheu Thai would not be held liable, which means it won’t contribute to the issue of party dissolution.
But if the former politicians were indicted and eventually found guilty by the court, Pheu Thai would have many voids to fill. The former MPs have a promising chance of getting re-elected and Pheu Thai simply cannot afford to lose them.
As one of the party’s legal experts, Mr Chalerm added the authorities cannot pursue a dissolution case against the Pheu Thai Party on another charge based on the alleged interference in the party’s affairs and decisions by ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
He said there was not a shred of evidence that Pheu Thai was dominated by Thaksin or obeyed his orders. Thaksin, a non-active member of Pheu Thai, is barred from any agenda-setting role or the running of the party which would risk it violating the law.
Mr Chalerm noted that a lot of successful policy programmes, such as the 30-baht health insurance coverage that are still being implemented today, were introduced by Thaksin.
Not only will the Pheu Thai Party survive, it will also thrive in the poll, Mr Chalerm predicted. The party will garner at least 200 constituency MPs and 12-15 list MPs.
The prediction puts the Pheu Thai Party at less than 20 seats shy from clinching half of the total MPs in the House of Representatives, he said.