Pheu Thai Party Chief Quits In Mystery Move

[hammered]

Utterly pathetic, but very amusing for anyone who follows Thai politics excepting those who take the PTP a s a pseudo socialist party

[Buchholz]

Yongyuth returns as party leader amid turmoil

No opposition from Thaksin as Yongyuth is re-elected Pheu Thai Leader

Yongyuth Wichaidit was yesterday re-elected Leader of the opposition Pheu Thai Party, with overwhelming support from Party MPs just days after his resignation.

The Party's general meeting held at its headquarters voted 267 to 6, with four abstentions, in support of Yongyuth as its new Leader.

The decision came after a heated debate between a small group of Northeastern MPs and the rest of the Party, particularly those from the North and Central region.

The Isaan MPs led by Paijit Sriworakhan from Nakhon Phanom called for a complete change of the Executive Board in order to strengthen the Party's structure in preparation for the next general election.

"We will have to go at full steam with structural changes or we will not be able to fight against our opponents," Paijit said.

Other Northeastern MPs also expressed their opposition to Yongyuth's comeback as the Party Leader.

However, their colleagues from the North and Central region argued that the Party needed to elect a Leader yesterday or it would be "headless". They added that although the Party Leader would remain unchanged, Deputy Leaders and other members of the Executive Board would be new ones.

They also said that fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is Pheu Thai's patriarch, did not oppose Yongyuth returning as the Party Leader.

Last Thursday, Yongyuth announced his resignation as the Party Leader, saying it was intended to pave the way for a structural adjustment in preparation for the next general election.

Earlier yesterday, Northeastern MPs convened a meeting and most of them agreed that yesterday's general meeting of the Party should be postponed for another week or two to allow more time for selecting candidates to be the new Party Leader. They agreed that the general meeting had been called too early and in too short a time after Yongyuth's resignation.

Pheu Thai's general meeting yesterday also elected former Deputy Interior Minister Supol Fong-ngarm as the Party's Secretary-General. Supol was earlier reportedly approached by the coalition Bhum Jai Thai Party and the party seat was described by a Pheu Thai source as an attempt to keep him with the party.

Prompong Nopparit managed to retain his current post of the Party Spokesman.

As many as 14 Deputy Leaders were elected, including Plodprasop Suraswadi, Chat Kuladilok, Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Prayuth Siripanit, Vicharn Meenchainant, Witthaya Buranasiri, and Somsak Kiatsuranond.

They are MPs from all regions as well as Party-list MPs.

A party source said it was the idea of Thaksin and key Pheu Thai figures to have Deputy Leaders who represent different groups of Party MPs. However, the current structure of the Executive Board would be changed and there would be a new Party Leader ahead of the next general election.

Payap Shinawatra, Thaksin's younger brother and chief coordinator of the party's northeastern MPs, said yesterday before the general meeting that he expected the Party Leader to be Yongyuth, whom he described as "the most suitable for the job".

Meanwhile, a red-shirt leader in Phayao, Siriwat Jupamadtha, said yesterday that in order to match the government's "foxiness and mastery of political games", only veteran politician Chalerm Yoobamrung deserved to be Pheu Thai's Party Leader. "If the seat goes to someone else, I think Pheu Thai is handing the government an easy prey," he said.

Former premier and Pheu Thai Chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, in his lecture at yesterday's general meeting, told party colleagues to "try every democratic means" to wrestle back political power and form a one-party government. "If we can't form a one-party government, don't expect us to survive," he said.

He suggested that the party work harder in order to win more support from poorer people, such as farmers, many of whom are being wooed by government handout policies.

-- The Nation 2010-09-15

[rubl]

I still feel sorry for Pol. Gen. Kosit. When he asked in a desperate tone

'Are you for or against me? Yes or No? Straight answer!'

he was probably told

if pressed for a straight answer I shall say that, as far as we can see, looking at it by and large, taking one thing with another, in terms of the average of departments, then in the last analysis it is probably true to say that, at the end of the day, you would find, in general terms that, not to put too fine a point on it, there really was not very much in it one way or the other.

(The late sir Humphrey Appleby)

Edited September 14, 2010 by rubl

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