By Thai Newsroom Reporters
DE FACTO PHEU THAI boss Thaksin Shinawatra has contemplated a hush-hush move to outdo his archrivals Move Forward in the future simply by putting an end to the electoral party-list mode on which the reformist camp heavily relies, according to a partisan source.
In order to win more votes in the next election, Thaksin has quietly considered pushing for amendment to the coup junta-designed constitution to the extent that the next race to parliament be no longer held in the party-list mode and only feature the constituency-based mode.
Such a possibility could see the total of 400 constituencies nationwide increase to 500 to make a total of 500 MPs who would only be elected in the constituency-based mode without a parallel party-list mode. Today, the House of Representatives consists of 400 constituency-based MPs and 100 party-listed MPs.
The de facto Pheu Thai boss has apparently concluded that his core coalition party would desperately repeat their electoral defeat to the Move Forward in the next election with respect to the number of party-listed MPs as had been the case in last year’s election, thus prompting him to mull over the shenanigan under which the party-list mode be no longer welcomed by the Pheu Thai rank and file, said the partisan source who only spoke on condition of anonymity.
Given the Move Forward’s sustained popularity among the people, particularly those in cities and urban areas in the provinces nationwide, the Pheu Thai’s chances of defeating the reformist party would probably bear fruit by amending the charter and its organic law pertaining to the election for MPs to the extent that the party-list mode be completely terminated.
Meanwhile, Thai Sang Thai leader Sudarat Keyurapan remarked over the weekend Thaksin has been decidedly keeping close, personal contact with “Big House” elements in the provinces in effort to secure constituency-based powers among current and former MPs as well as current and former members of cabinet, especially those attached to his camp.
Since he was granted parole on his one-year jail term during which he has never spent a single day behind bars, the billionaire, powerful Thaksin has visited “Big House” elements in the provinces with plans to indefinitely continue to do so on behalf of his core coalition party.
Thaksin who had allegedly manipulated the setup of the Pheu Thai-led government by joining ranks with his former political enemies, namely the Palang Pracharath led by former deputy prime minister Prawit Wongsuwan and the Ruam Thai Sang Chart under de facto party boss/former prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, would undoubtedly prefer to keep those coalition partners with the Pheu Thai rather than join hands with the Move Forward, whom he had purposely dumped last year, according to the Thai Sang Thai leader.
In Thai political jargon, “Big House” refers to MPs and cabinet members, either current or former, who may have secured bases of popular support either by way of doing good deeds, handing out cash to the people on an occasional, discreet basis or exerting individual or family influence and fame.
“Thaksin has apparently resolved to maintain and expand bases of popular support for ‘Big House’ elements in the provinces whilst contemplating moves to get rid of the party-list mode by way of constitution amendment in effort to outdo the Move Forward in the next election,” Sudarat commented.
Sudarat, a former cabinet member and former Pheu Thai strategic committee chair and had been previously close to Thaksin, pointed out that “Big House” elements would largely apply “ammunition”, meaning vote-buying cash, to win an election the usual, run-of-the-mill way as opposed to a spontaneous surge of popularity which could probably do without the vote-buying money.
In the 2023 election, the Pheu Thai and Move Forward won an equal number of constituency-based MPs, 112, with the former winning 29 MPs, compared to the Move Forward’s 39 MPs, in the party-list mode.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra. Photos: Thai Rath
Insert: Thai Sang Thai leader Sudarat Keyurapan. Photo: Thai Rath
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