By Thai Newsroom Reporters
DEMOCRAT LEADER Abhisit Vejjajiva has been viewed as the most favourite to many southern constituents to become prime minister following an upcoming general election, no matter how many Democrat MPs may then fare under his command, according to the latest NIDA poll.
Among a total 2,000 respondents who are reportedly local villagers in all 14 southern provinces, 32% were yet undecided as to who they would eventually prefer as prime minister after the general election speculated as soon as in the upcoming February whilst 25% picked Abhisit for head of a post-election government, no matter whether his Old School conservative party might possibly become core of a future coalition in regard to the 2023 election in which only 25 Democrats were elected MPs.
That compared to 15% of the 2,000 southern respondents who preferred to see the current Prime Minister/Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul retain power beyond the nationwide race to parliament and 12% who picked People’s leader Nattapong Ruengpanyawut for the next prime minister, according to the NIDA poll conducted before Hat Yai district was devastated by critical flooding.
Abhisit who has recently returned as Democrat leader after six years in low profile is a former prime minister who headed a military-installed government from 2008 until 2011 during which time he also performed as leader of the same party which is currently part of the opposition bloc.
In protest of his fellow Democrat MPs’ endorsement for former coup leader-turned-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to keep himself in power following the 2019 election, Abhisit simultaneously resigned as Democrat leader and MP and saw those Democrats led by then Democrat secretary-general Chalermchai Sri-on jump onto the bandwagon of the Palang Pracharath-led government.
The entire southern region had been known as the biggest electoral stronghold of the Democrat, the country’s oldest, in the time of former prime minister/former Democrat leader Chuan Leekpai.
Nevertheless, many of the 17 Democrat MPs who today represent southern constituencies are largely anticipated to skip over to the Bhumjaithai, core of the current coalition government under de facto party boss Newin Chidchob, or the Klatham, currently a coalition partner under de facto party boss/Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Agriculture & Cooperatives Minister Thammanat Prompao, and seek re-election under the tickets of their new parties.
Those include the former Democrat leader Chalermchai and former Democrat secretary-general Dej-it Khaotong who are expected to depart for Thammanat’s camp, among others.
Besides, a number of Ruam Thai Sang Chart and Palang Pracharath MPs currently representing southern constituencies are also speculated to leave the divided camps which are currently coalition partners either for the Bhumjaithai or Klatham and seek re-election under the banners of their new camps.
The Bhumjaithai-attached Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Transport Minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn had planned to win half the total 60 MP seats for the southern constituencies in the general election whilst Thammanat had reportedly aimed to get no less than 20 MP seats for the same region though such electoral designs had been mapped out weeks before Hat Yai and other southern areas were ruined by critical flooding.
The Hat Yai flooding incidents which claimed hundreds of fatalities would almost certainly render a drastic decline in Anutin’s and Bhumjaithai’s hypes among the southern people largely due to alleged mismanagement and inefficiency on the part of the prime minister and his Bhumjaithai-led government.
Meanwhile, the Pheu Thai, currently an opposition party under de facto boss/inmate Thaksin Shinawatra, would likely lodge a censure motion against the prime minister and any members of the Bhumjaithai-led cabinet within this month after legislation for amendment to the coup junta-designed constitution has passed the final reading of the bill, speculated to be around Dec.26, given an extraordinary parliamentary session to open on Dec.10 and Dec.11 for its second reading.
However, the prime minister who is legally prohibited from dissolving the House of Representatives to call a general election after a censure motion has been formally filed may eventually preempt it by doing so on any given day prior to a probable censure move on the part of Thaksin’s camp.
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Top and Front Page – Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva. Photos – PPTVHD36
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