By Thai Newsroom Reporters
PRIME MINISTER ANUTIN Charnvirakul today (Oct.20) said there are “factors” which could probably prompt him to dissolve the House of Representatives to call a general election sooner than otherwise unanticipated to occur until the end of the upcoming January.
The prime minister-cum-interior minister who concurrently acts as leader of the Bhumjaithai, core of the current coalition government, stopped short of elaborating on those “factors” which, he said, could probably bring about an earlier election than expected or at any time ahead of January 31, the date on which a four-month, interim period for the minority government is tentatively supposed to end.
Upon being named prime minister last month, Anutin almost immediately pledged to return the power to the people by way of a general election to be held in a 60-day period as provided by law following a House dissolution, capping the four-month term for the minority government.
That would roughly fall on any day in March but the unspecified “factors” could probably see the nationwide election for MPs a month or two sooner, according to the prime minister.
Meanwhile, the prime minister remarked that an overwhelming victory of the Bhumjaithai over the Pheu Thai in yesterday’s by-election in Kanchanaburi in addition to the one held last month in Sisaket where the former had also defeated the latter has undoubtedly signified popularity of the Bhumjaithai as core of the current coalition government which would be relatively prevalent and sustainable.
Such political popularity of the Bhumjaithai under de facto party boss Newin Chidchob which apparently compared to the exponentially ebbing hype of the Pheu Thai under de facto party boss-turned-inmate Thaksin Shinawatra might practically render the likelihood of the former to secure more MP seats than the latter in the upcoming nationwide election.
In another development, the recent phenomenon in which Sompong Amornvivat has resigned as Pheu Thai partisan member, thus automatically depriving himself of the MP status, apparently underscored an unresolved, sustained conflict of interest within the rank and file of Thaksin’s camp, a partisan source said.
Sompong, who had previously acted as Pheu Thai leader, albeit only in name, had been at odds with Yaowapa Wongsawat, sister of the de party boss Thaksin over the naming of candidates running under the Pheu Thai tickets for northern constituencies since the 2023 election.
Given an ever-present family relation between Yaowapa and Thaksin, the de facto party boss’s sister had invariably endorsed the partisan candidates of her own choosing whilst keeping those recommended by Sompong at bay, allegedly resulting in significant Pheu Thai defeats in the previous election, the partisan source said.
The neo-conservative Pheu Thai secured only two out of a total 10 MP seats of Chiang Mai, the northern home province of both Yaowapa and Sompong, with seven others being won by the reformist People’s, core of the current opposition bloc, and grabbed only four out of a total seven MP seats of Chiang Rai, leaving the three others to the People’s in the last election.
Apart from the People’s, the ultra-conservative Klatham, one of the current coalition partners under de facto party boss Thammanat Prompao are more or less speculated to win a number of northern MP seats in the next race to parliament.
Thammanat who had been earlier personally linked with Thaksin has quietly turned coat to join the Bhumjaithai-led coalition government, leaving the Pheu Thai in the opposition bloc.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page – Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Photos – Thai Rath
First insert – Sompong Amornvivat. Photo – Thai Rath
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