COURTSHIP RITUALS FAIL TO IMPRESS
Thailand is on track to hold a longawaited general election by February next year if everything goes as planned, with politicians resorting to tricks of old as the polling day nears. Every time a general election is announced, political parties with ambition of winning the poll try to siphon off former MPs from other parties begin. When I see this, I think the country is stuck in old-style dirty, ( nam nao) politics mode. Last week, former Maha Sarakham MP Prayuth Siripanich told the media that about 40 % of former MPs in the Northeast from his Pheu Thai Party were being courted to join the Pracharath Party, seen as a potential vehicle to support Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to be the next prime minister after the election.
Mr Prayuth spoke out after attempts emerged by the pro-regime party to persuade grade “A” former MPs in the Northeast, representing Loei province, along with former natural resources and environment minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk, to join them. The Northeast is a political stronghold of Pheu Thai which secured 104 House seats in the 2011 election.
Mr Preecha later told the media that Suriya Jungrungreangkit, a former transport MP, who once served as a member of the defunct Thai Rak Thai Party, Sukhothai politician Somsak Thepsuthin, and himself have formed a group called the “Three Companions” with Mr Suriya as its leader. However, Mr Preecha said the group has not yet decided whether to defect to another party. All he can do, until things become clearer, is meet more former MPs to talk to them about their political ambitions and see if those with common aspirations wish to join, he said.
Defections from parties ahead of elections are a common phenomenon, and come as no surprise. This was particularly obvious in the 2005 general election, when many politicians defected to the Thai Rak Thai Party because of the popularity of both party leader Thaksin Shinawatra and the party. Thaksin won the election on Feb 6, 2005.
The party’s candidates were elected to 377 seats of the 500 seats in the House, defeating the largest opposition party, the Democrat Party. It won 96 seats while the now-dissolved Chart Thai secured 25 seats and Mahachon two seats. After the election, the country’s first single-party government formed. The Thai Rak Thai Party was the first party in the kingdom to be represented by more than half the members of the House. And many more politicians switched sides after the military coup in September 2006 led by then army chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin which seized power from the government of former prime minister Thaksin.
Generally, politicians who have defected from one party to another, or are considering defecting to a new party have their own reasons. They include the party’s chances of winning and their own chances of getting a job in cabinet. Politicians easily switch parties because they may feel their individual interests are being threatened or their new party is more popular than the existing one.
Evidence suggests politicians defecting to a new party are likely to change their behaviour to fit the demands of the new party, but ultimately their level of support in the party usually falls. In short, I can say defection can bring “short-term fame but long-term obscurity”. In past elections, most defectors could not make their way into parliament because voters were fully aware that the objectives of those politicians were money, power and other benefits.
Former MPs of the Pheu Thai Party are not the only group which the pro-regime Pracharath Party or the National Council for Peace and Order are courting.
Ex-MPs from Palangchon and Bhumjaithai parties are also sought after. In April, the Prayut cabinet appointed Sonthaya Khunpluem, the leader of the Palangchon Party, as his political adviser. His younger brother Itthipol was also appointed the Vice Minister of Tourism. In May, the prime minister held a mobile cabinet meeting in Buri Ram, a political stronghold of Bhumjaithai party.
The Pracharath Party’s attempts to lure former MPs into its camp has thrown Pheu Thai secretary-general Phumtham Wechayachai off balance. He downplayed the reports, insisting party unity was still strong. No matter how much of this goes on, I think most voters will regard such moves with scepticism. For them it is like old wine in new bottles. Voters will take into account the benefits to the country and to their own communities before they make their choice.