Leader of Thai Raksa Chart vows to keep campaigning for votes
KEY leaders of Thai Raksa Chart Party on Tuesday vowed to continue campaigning for votes even though its decision to nominate Princess Ubolratana as its sole PM candidate was shot down.
Appearing in public for the first time since last Friday, when he submitted the PM candidate nomination to the Election Commission (EC), party leader Preechapol Pongpanit met the press by performing a “wai” above his head.
“All our party members have accepted His Majesty the King’s command [that prohibits Ubolratana from entering politics],” he said.
“We will heed this command with all loyalty to His Majesty and to the Royal Family.”
He also said that his party will show no opposition to the EC’s decision to disqualify its PM nomination.
Princess Ubolratana is t he elder sister of His Majest y King Maha Vajira longkor n a nd t he eldest chi ld of late King Rama IX.
Thoug h she rel i nquished her roya l tit les nearly f ive decades ago when she married a n American, t he roya l command said she was still a member of the Roya l Fa mily a nd hence shou ld stay above politics.
Chaturon Chaisang, chair of Thai Raksa Chart’s strategic committee, said on Facebook on Tuesday that he does not believe the party will be dissolved easily.
“Who says ‘fleas jump out of dying dogs?’ But if it is really [dissolved], I will stay till the end,” he posted.
However, in an earlier post on Tuesday, Chaturon said he did not participate in the submission of Ubolratana’s nomination last Friday and would not express an opinion.
“But when I saw my political friends saying that they were ‘really happy’, I became very concerned,” he said.
Meanwhile, pa rt y members showed up at the party headquarters on Tuesday t o a t t e nd a n e x e c ut i v e meet i n g . Preechapol said the meeting was being held to determine t he direction t he part y ’s ca mpaig n i ng wou ld ta ke i n t he upcoming elections.
“We cannot stop solving people’s problems. We are now very motivated,” he added.
The party was initially scheduled to hold an executive meeting and a press conference on Monday. However, it was later revealed that there were too few members to form a quorum, so the meeting had to be postponed.
Ubolratana was on Monday formally disqualified for running for prime minister, ending her brief and ill-fated political union with a party allied to the powerful Shinawatra clan, just days after a stern royal command rebuking her candidacy was issued by her brother, the king.
Uncertainty and conjecture have coursed through Thailand since last Friday when the Thai Raksa Chart party made the explosive announcement of Princess Ubolratana, King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s elder sister, as their candidate for premier after the March 24 election.
Her tilt appeared to some to be a masterstroke of back-room dealings by Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire self-exiled ex-premier, just weeks before the poll.
Thai Raksa Chart, a second to the Thaksin political powerhouse Pheu Thai, was expected to help the Shinawatra machine secure a majority in the 350-seat lower house.