And now Somchai has been cleared by the court, he's back in the race for the top 'job' of leader of Pheua Thai.

Chalerm, the Shinawat sisters and the red shirts will all reject Sudarat.

It's Somchai or Ponthep, mark my words.

On 7/12/2017 at 6:58 AM, Chris Lawrence said:

six of one and a half dozen of another? 

 

They all know where the cookie jar is.

 

The military will be hard to dislodge. 

The military cant be dislodged. Their new constituton entreches their power irrespective of the results of any pesky election..

 

1 minute ago, HooHaa said:

The military cant be dislodged. Their new constituton entreches their power irrespective of the results of any pesky election..

 

I do think the constitution which favoured military domination can be re-written to be more democratic through a referendum to seek the entire electorate to vote on this particular proposal. It is totally legal. But to do that, many factors and many alliances have to be considered.  

Just now, HooHaa said:

The military cant be dislodged. Their new constituton entreches their power irrespective of the results of any pesky election..

 

Not if Pheua Thai and The Democrats join forces and form a government together after the election. And although that sounds far fetched these are unusual times.

Pheua Thai prefer The Democrats to the army so their followers would not be less dismayed if they joined the Democrats rather than some small parties backed by the army. 

The danger lies more for The Democrats, many of their supporters , ie Suthep's  clearly support the army, but a considerable portion of Democrats wish the party to be seen as independent and a political force in their own right.

A temporary contract open to the public where both parties stated their joint policy intentions  if they formed the next government could possibly work.

Just now, Eric Loh said:

I do think the constitution which favoured military domination can be re-written to be more democratic through a referendum to seek the entire electorate to vote on this particular proposal. It is totally legal. But to do that, many factors and many alliances have to be considered.  

Rewriting the constitution requires a three fifths majority of both houses I believe. Hard to attain with the Senate containing 250 army supporting Senators.

2 minutes ago, Siripon said:

Rewriting the constitution requires a three fifths majority of both houses I believe. Hard to attain with the Senate containing 250 army supporting Senators.

Not too sure about Thailand but in certain countries a referendum can be a petition from the citizens in large enough amount of signatures and only need the Parliment approval. Anyone can throw some light on Thailand?  

1 hour ago, Siripon said:

And now Somchai has been cleared by the court, he's back in the race for the top 'job' of leader of Pheua Thai.

Chalerm, the Shinawat sisters and the red shirts will all reject Sudarat.

It's Somchai or Ponthep, mark my words.

Aye.

'As both the Pheu Thai Party and the Red Shirts are essentially family businesses owned by the Shinawatra family, it is important that only a loyal family member lead the party. Allowing any outsider who has their own political faction and loyalties to lead the party risks a drift from Shinawatra control.'
http://2bangkok.com/shinawatra-family-drama.html
 

On 7/12/2017 at 5:09 AM, Samui Bodoh said:

This would be an epic mistake.

 

While I understand from a Thai point of view the desire to keep things in the family (That's how Thais do things), I cannot imagine a scenario whereby the military and the Powers That Be would allow another Shinawatra to attain power.

 

It would be great for Thailand if a non Shinawtra were to lead the party, then perhaps things might quiet politically.

 

 

seems that family group has a 'culture' and this would just be ANOTHER version, slightly different name

Having a family member in charge is essential to maintaining the returns on investment of buying a government. A non-family member would inevitably consider his own family, leading to a diversion of funds and reduction in returns to the silent partner.

4 hours ago, Siripon said:

Rewriting the constitution requires a three fifths majority of both houses I believe. Hard to attain with the Senate containing 250 army supporting Senators.

my point exactly.

 

they have stacked the deck.

https://www.economist.com/news/asia/21704593-charter-further-consolidates-power-army-thailand-votes-new-constitution

 

there are plenty of other descriptions of this all singing constitution, however i suspect they would cause issues f posted here.

1 hour ago, halloween said:

Having a family member in charge is essential to maintaining the returns on investment of buying a government. A non-family member would inevitably consider his own family, leading to a diversion of funds and reduction in returns to the silent partner.

 

And the paymaster tried an outsider one time already - the errant cook (cook not chef) and the paymaster totally lost control of the cook very quickly.

 

In fact in hindsight the paymasters must have been none too pleased with himself in regard to why he ever make the decision to 'employ' the cook as his puppet.

 

But no doubt this would make the paymaster / the family very wary of anybody not from the family being the puppet into the future. 

 

On the other hand, given what's now transpired with the latest puppet, would any family member be willing to be thrown under the bus?