Korn ‘dares’ to register new party
Ex-Democrat denies ‘FFP refuge’ claims
A group of representatives of a new political party founded by former Democrat MP Korn Chatikavanij yesterday registered “Kla” (Dare) as the party’s name and “a raised fist” as the party’s logo.
Led by former Democrat MP Atavit Suwannapakdee, the group showed up at the Office of Election Commission (EC) to register the party’s name which was chosen from hundreds of suggestions submitted by their supporters.
After leaving the Democrat Party, Mr Korn and Mr Atavit urged their supporters to help name a new party and promised to launch it yesterday on Valentine’s Day.
It was reported Mr Korn met many young entrepreneurs who were expected to contribute to shaping his party’s manifesto.
Worawut Oonjai, president of the Thai Retailers Association, music artist Moncheep Sivasinangkul, better known as Khru Ped, and young fashion designer Benjarong Tharana, were unveiled as party co-founders.
Mr Atavit said yesterday the name “Kla” was chosen to convey a message to those who are creative and “daring” to enter politics.
“We’d like to appeal to various groups of people. We’re focusing on clarity and professionalism. People who have ideas refrain from politics but we want to open space for them,” he said.
He insisted the party was not formed to accommodate MPs from the Future Forward Party which is facing a dissolution threat over a controversial loan or to collect MPs for leverage in negotiating for cabinet seats.
“We have set our sights on the next elections, but we have to move now. With pragmatism as our core value, we need to create a proper understanding about it and the process takes time,” Mr Atavit said.
According to Mr Atavit, it is too early for the party to consider whether to contest the gubernatorial election amid speculation that a former executive of Thai AirAsia might run on the party’s ticket.
He said the party would next collect the names of 500 official co-founders and invite those who share its ideology to join, adding that a general assembly is likely next month.
Democrat MP Thepthai Senpong said yesterday the Kla Party is not a branch of the Democrat Party while noting that the new outfit will have to prove it lives up to its name.
Meanwhile, Democrat chief adviser Chuan Leekpai said yesterday there are high and low times for parties and when a crisis hits, executives have to stick together to keep it from collapse.
Delivering a lecture on the topic of turning a political party to a political institution, he said the Democrat Party, which has faced two dissolution cases, has weathered a number of crises to become known as a political institution.
At one time, many executives and members left to form a new party, he said.
“I never thought about leaving to form a new party. If the party had collapsed, I would just have returned to my old job as a lawyer. At that time we had only one MP in Bangkok. Now we have none in Bangkok,” he said.