By Thai Newsroom Reporters
IT WILL BE UNLIKELY for the Pheu Thai Party to score a landslide victory grabbing no less than 310 MP seats as reportedly targeted in an upcoming general election, said an executive official of King Prajadhipok’s Institute today (Mar.16).
KPI deputy secretary-general Thawilwadi Burikul remarked the Pheu Thai, known to be invariably loyal to de facto party boss/former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, will almost certainly find it very difficult to get as many as 310 out of a total of 500 MPs.
Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra who is running as Pheu Thai partisan contestant for prime minister and Pheu Thai leader Chonlanan Srikaew, among others, have repeatedly called on constituents nationwide to only vote for the Pheu Thai electoral candidates to reach the 310-MPs target so that they could finally become a one-party government as had been the case of the court-dissolved Thai Rak Thai under leadership of Thaksin who has been living in self-exile abroad since the 2006 coup and desperately longing for homecoming.
Nevertheless, Thawilwadi contended that the Move Forward and the Thai Liberal, among others, could probably be stealing many of the votes from Thaksin’s camp in the nationwide election.
“In particular, the new generations would opt for alternative parties rather than the Pheu Thai, though they all may stay on the same side of the political spectrum,” Thawilwadi said.
Though the NIDA Poll has earlier found Paetongtarn more popular among constituents in the provinces than Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha who is running to retain power under the Ruam Thai Sang Chart tickets, the latter still has enough time to probably close in on the former, she said.
Meanwhile, the Palang Pracharath, led by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan who is also vying as sole partisan contender for prime minister, has apparently offered themselves as “a third choice” for those who would prefer to stay in the middle between two ends of the political spectrum, namely conservatism and liberalism, according to the KPI executive official.
She said she believed electoral victories for certain parties will no longer rely on any vote-buying shenanigans such as the handout of cash, albeit in hush-hush fashion, and pork-barrel politics allegedly conducted by those with access to government funds but rather hinge on current, prevalent trends of popularity for those camps.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra attending a campaign rally recently. Both photos: Matichon
Insert: King Prajadhipok’s Institute deputy secretary-general Thawilwadi Burikul. Photo: Thai Rath
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