By Thai Newsroom Reporters
JULAPAN AMORNVIVAT has appeared to be the most favourite among the Pheu Thai rank and file to be named party leader in place of de facto party boss-turned-inmate Thaksin Shinawatra’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra who has recently resigned, according to partisan sources.
The former deputy finance minister/current Pheu Thai MP has been so far viewed among the party’s rank and file as the most favourite among several partisan members to be named leader of the neo-conservative party to replace Thaksin’s daughter/court-deposed, former prime minister who has evidently rendered an immense loss of a previous Pheu Thai-led government’s credibility and partisan popularity following last June’s fiasco which she had perpetrated over Thai-Cambodian border conflict.
Julapan has been invariably viewed as a usually congenial person in the eye of his partisan colleagues and others and being entrusted to some extent by the Shinawatra family though his father Sompong Amornvivat had developed so much conflict of interest with Thaksin’s sister Yaowapa Wongsawat pertaining to the questionable candidacy of Pheu Thai contestants for northern constituencies in previous elections that he had recently opted out by resigning from partisan membership.
In comparison to former acting Pheu Thai leader Chaturon Chaisang, who may not be relatively so trustworthy in the eyes of the Shinawatra family, Julapan would likely have a wider chance of being named Pheu Thai leader in an extraordinary party caucus scheduled for the upcoming Friday.
Given his current status of Pheu Thai MP representing a Chiang Mai constituency, Julapan is more or less expected to boost the party’s popularity among northern voters in a general election speculated as soon as in the upcoming February. The Move Forward, now renamed as the People’s, won seven out of a total 10 MP seats of Chiang Mai, the home province of the Shinawatra family, leaving only two to Thaksin’s camp and one to the Palang Pracharath in the 2023 election.
“To say the least, Chaturon is known as a smug, self-contented person who would be less predictable and submissive to the Shinawatra family than Julapan, regardless of his father’s having been at odds with Jay Daeng,” one partisan source said, referring to Yaowapa by her nickname.
Thaksin who is currently serving a curtailed, one-year term at Klong Prem prison on a few counts of misconduct perpetrated during his previous premiership over the last couple of decades had decided to have the deeply-embedded impression of his Shinawatra family constantly taking helm of the neo-conservative camp erased once and for all, thus prompting him to tell his daughter who had been deposed of her premiership by the Constitutional Court on charges of violating the politician’s code of ethics pertaining to Thai-Cambodian border conflict resign as party leader earlier this month, the partisan sources said.
In the meantime, a pivotal role of the party’s electoral campaign finance has been already handed over to former Pheu Thai secretary-general Suriya Juangroongruangkit, one of a duo of leaders of Sam Mit Group, a faction of MPs mostly representing upper-central constituencies inside Thaksin’s camp.
The naming of Suriya as director for partisan electoral campaigns was not only designed to keep the former transport minister from leaving Thaksin’s camp for another in foreseeable future but to save the Shinawatra family a great deal of money worth of campaign finance during a run-up to a general election speculated as soon as in the upcoming February.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether Suriya will eventually follow suit of Somsak Thepsuthin, the other leader of Sam Mit Group, who might probably lead an exodus of Pheu Thai MPs skipping over to the Klatham, one of the current coalition partners under de facto party boss Thammanat Prompao, and seek re-election under the banners of their new camp.
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether any relatives of the Shinawatra family including those in wedlock such as the likes of Nattapong Kunakornwong, spouse of Thaksin’s other daughter Pintongtha, might probably be named one of a trio of partisan contenders for prime minister in the nationwide race to parliament.
CAPTIONS:
Pheu Thai MP Julapan Amornvivat. Top photo – PPTVHD 36, Front Page – Thai Rath
Insert – De facto Pheu Thai boss-turned inmate Thaksin Shinawatra. Photo – Amarin TV
Also read:
At last, Thaksin takes Shinawatra family off Pheu Thai leadership
PM might dissolve House by early Dec. to call election by early Feb.
Vorapak resigns as deputy finance minister amidst Khmer scammer issue
Paetongtarn resigns as Pheu Thai leader
