Eric Loh

Chiang Mai has gone orange. Last election, FFP only had 1 seat out of the 10. Now they have 7 and PTP lost most their incumbent seats. Only manage to win 2 seats this election.

That will probably the barest of the bare minimum to have some semblance of feeble steps towards democracy. Ostracize the military parties and have only political parties in the coalition. Will placate some anger from supporters. Pheu Thai Party will probably grow in size with defections from PPRP. MFP need to consider their role in the voting process as they too want to keep the military parties out of the next government and even if they not in the new coalition. Revision of the constitution must be the focus with 1997 people constitution as the blueprint.

Kind of strange when Prayut commented that Village Fund have improved. He didn’t discontinue the program even as you said diverting to the Red Shirts. Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha commented this weekend that village and urban community funds have improved the livelihoods of Thai people in all corners of the country. Perhaps you should refer to journalistic report rather than hearsay. Loei farmer Prayuth Hipkaew. The retired teacher, a resident of Phu Kradung district, recalled that he used to grow only rice on his five-rai plot, but would earn nothing in the off-season. So he studied the Thai Chamber of Commerce’s “One Rai, One Hundred Thousand Baht to Financial Freedom” project and borrowed Bt30,000 from the village fund. He divided his land into five parts allocated to rice and other wet-field crops; fish and frog raising; an area with a residence and bio-substance manufacturing facility; chicken and duck raising; and a herbal plant and vegetable patch. Nowadays he and his wife earn over Bt100,000 per rai.

Nonsense. The NPL for the thousands of village fund programs was only 4%. You are grasping at straw & really know nothing about the success of the village fund.

You rather have the thousand of Thais borrow from loan sharks?

Yellow shirts are Thaksin haters. If they are royalist, Bangkokians will vote PPTP or UTN. Coalition parties still up in the air. So much twists and turns. A new government is badly needed in this time of economic woes.

On the other side of the scale, generals and their allies are politically motivated never to receive any corruption charges. Convenient or political expediency?

Agree with you that rewriting the constitution is an uphill task, not simply and time consuming. What the people and political parties want are fair electoral rule, an impartial and reliable judiciary, watchdogs agencies to be re-appointed, elected senators and it can be done (not easy too) with amendments rather than re-writing the whole constitution. It is also the interest of PT if they form the government to amend these undemocratic constitution sections. Will help placate the MFP supporters.

He did apologies for the massacre at Tak Bai but stop short of accepting responsibility, saying the operation was under then army chief Gen Prawit. It's confirmed that he is not coming back on August 10 when the anger and rage are on PTP. His home coming is ill timed for now. Many yellow shirts are MFP supporters and will invite unnecessary diversion.

Rayong is Dem Party stronghold held be long serving DP incumbents.

I think it’s clear that the government is powerless to grant that change.

It’s puzzling considering that the reason for the failed coalition was due to the senates and not PTP. A lot more will happen till the next PM vote.

I remembered the last time Pheu Thai was the government and a majority in the House but still couldn’t get Taksin back. What change mate that they can do that this time with a weaker majority.

PTP to form the government, re-write the constitution and hold an early election will pacify the angry mob. Expect Pita to make a statement to clarify the reasons for the break up as a junta's evil plot.

Ben is right. Ad hominem is reflection of your lack of forum decorum and has no facts to defend.

Get real mate.

I don't call gaining the second most parlimentary seats and taking the lead in forming the government as "they lost". The original MFP+PTP coalition supported Pita all the way until the impasse was deemed impossible to breach. The senates stood in the way and they backstab the people and caused the hand of the coalition parties to break off amicably. Your facts are distorted.

The people got rid of the junta puppet government that manipulated the previous election. That’s a win for the people. The new government has to be formed to manage the economy and people’s livelihoods. Any government without the military parties is progress and door slightly ajar for democracy.

Nepotism, the practice among those with power or influence of favouring family or friends or associates especially giving them jobs. Sound familiar? Senates come to mind. Not corrupt?

Political family is a problem? I can name you quite a few.

K Somsak represent the real people when he spoke his mind. Not parroting narratives of the establishment like some do here.

By a skewed court and acting on political expediency?

There wouldn't be a senate after May. Will not be a complete constitution rewrite as it will need a time-consuming referendum. Amendment on Section 256 of the charter is the most seriously flawed and will be first on the list to be targeted. Most parties even the junta partner except the military parties have called for a rewrite of the charter to ensure full restoration of democracy. No military parties will be in the coalition. Pledge promised and will be delivered by PTP.

PTP leader Cholan Srikaew announced this afternoon that a new coalition without MFP will be formed. He promised to amend the charter and then call for new election. Also will support the beneficial policies of MFP. Whether that will be enough to placate MFP MPs to vote for Sretha will be left to be seen. However Cholan does seem confident to pull this off on Friday. The new coalition parties will be announced tomorrow.

Why divert my post?