FFP suffers 120 resignations
Group cites ‘changes’ since they signed up
Some 30 unsuccessful election candidates and 90 other Future Forward Party (FFP) members yesterday went to the Election Commission offices to tender their resignations, citing dissatisfaction over the way the party is run.
Niphon Chaemchamrat, who stood as a candidate in Chon Buri, said he does not believe his decision to quit the party will affect its popularity, but he and his colleagues had to go because the FFP was no longer the party it was when it was established one and a half years ago.
He denied a report that he and his colleagues had left the party out of dissatisfaction that they had not been assigned official jobs after the party won many seats in parliament.
“We never laid down any such conditions or request, but it was a promise made at party meetings,” he said, admitting that this may be considered as a weak reason to hand in their resignations by some.
“But if the party’s main leaders cannot keep their word on this small issue, how they can carry out policies they’ve promised to pursue to the electorate the people?” he added.
FFP leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit yesterday played down the exodus, saying it is normal for supporters to come and go from a party.
“We are not shaken,” Mr Thanathorn said, adding the departures would have no impact on a party with a current membership which stands at 60,000.
“Time will tell whether we’ll get stronger,’’ he said.
Mr Thanathorn said all members have the right to stay with the party or leave it as they see fit.
Asked to respond to reports that the group were leaving because they were unhappy with the way the party was being run, the FFP leader said the party had not had a lot of time to work with all its members, having not been in existence for very long.
The FFP was endorsed as a political party last October and had only two months to screen members in order to field them in the general election.
“This short time frame made it difficult to find people who were 100% with us in terms of our ideology and principles,” Mr Thanathorn said.
He added that resignations are a common situation for every political party and “it’s normal in a journey to see people come and go”.
At the moment, there are still a large number of people applying to become new members of the party, he claimed.
“The resignations are not a serious issue,” Mr Thanathorn said, “but when anything happens, the party suddenly becomes a target for criticism.”
However, Mr Niphon disagreed with Mr Thanathorn’s suggestion that such a large number of resignations at one time was normal.
Though those of us who are bidding farewell to the FFP are not necessarily at odds with the party, the fact that so many are going reinforces our belief that things have changed since the election, he said.