By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE EUROPEAN UNION has raised concerns over the sustained possibility that a major Thai party contesting the May 14 general election might be dissolved by court sooner or later, according to Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul.
Ambassadors and other senior diplomats of the EU community attached to Bangkok, including those of France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, among others, today (Apr.26) visited the Bhumjaithai headquarters and met with Anutin and other executive members of the party to inquire, among other issues, the possibility of the dissolution of the Pheu Thai and others by the Constitutional Court, either before or after the nationwide election.
The EU diplomats were known to have inquired with the Bhumjaithai leader as to whether caretaker prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha who is running to retain power under the Ruam Thai Sang Chart tickets could possibly enjoy “windfall” advantages, either before or after the May 14 election, only if his archrivals such as the Pheu Thai were dissolved by court.
Prayut is more or less speculated to manage to set up a minority government, given yea votes from minority MPs and most of the 250 unelected senators, all of whom had been handpicked by himself and Palang Pracharath leader Prawit Wongsuwan following the 2014 coup which he had orchestrated as army chief.
A partisan contestant for prime minister is legally obliged to muster votes of support from more than half the total of MPs and senators combined or from at least 376 votes to be successfully named one.
Meanwhile, the possibility of the Pheu Thai being dissolved by court apparently remains since the party is invariably alleged to remain more or less under influence of de facto party boss/deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra whose daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra has emerged out of nowhere to be named one of a trio of partisan contestants for prime minister.
Today’s visit of the EU diplomats to the Bhumjaithai headquarters apparently followed Anutin’s comment recently made to the extent that he ultimately disagrees with the dissolution of any party because, he said, it cannot practically stop politicians from pursuing their ideological interests under democratic rule.
Without naming names, Anutin, who himself was once banned from political activity alongside 110 others due to 2007’s Thai Rak Thai dissolution, said one of the court-dissolved camps has apparently thrived and is currently popular among constituents, thus indeed rendering the dissolution of the party under a different name to no avail. The Bhumjaithai leader apparently referred to the Pheu Thai which has been heralding a much-anticipated landslide victory in the May 14 election.
Anutin remarked that any executive members of a contesting party could possibly be punished by court for allegedly violating the election law whilst the party to which they may belong should remain intact as a whole.
He told the visiting EU representatives that the Bhumjaithai has not as yet decided which party they may finally join in bid to set up a coalition government, pending the results of the nationwide election.
CAPTION:
Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul holding talks with EU diplomats today, April 26, 2023. Top photo: Matichon, Front Page photo: Thai Rath
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