Ruling Party Says Thaksin will Return to Office in a Year

[dr dave soul monsta]

The ruling party of outgoing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed he would return to his post within a year, the deputy party leader said Tuesday, just a week after the embattled premier stepped down.

Thaksin emerged from weeks of anti-government protests as the winner of an election on April 2, but surprised the country by announcing he would leave office, bowing to demands for him to step down.

He still has millions of supporters—mostly poor rural Thais, thousands of whom have come to his party headquarters to shed tears and mourn his resignation.

“We believe that within one year he will return as prime minister, and on that day, the people who have cried will laugh,” Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit said Tuesday at Thai Rak Thai party headquarters. Suriya is also secretary-general of the Thai Rak Thai (Thai Love Thai) party.

Critics have threatened more protests unless Thaksin leaves parliament, where he still holds a seat as a legislator, and drops out of politics entirely. They say Thaksin, who also remains the party leader, will ultimately control any prime minister that replaces him, a charge Thai Rak Thai members rejected.

“The party will give (the new premier) leadership so that he can make decisions independently,” Thai Rak Thai deputy spokesman Pimuk Simarot told reporters.

Thailand’s Election Commission late Tuesday delayed a decision on two complaints filed by Thaksin’s opponents before the election accusing him and his party of fraud in the run-up to last week’s election.

The People’s Alliance for Democracy, which led mass anti-Thaksin protests, submitted a petition alleging that Thaksin tried to buy voters’ favor with cash, and promised to reward poor villagers with low-interest loans if he was re-elected.

Thaksin could lose his parliamentary seat if the commission rules against him. However, a preliminary finding released Sunday indicated there was no conclusive evidence showing Thaksin had violated electoral law.

Thaksin’s opponents have accused the commission of favoring Thai Rak Thai by delaying the release of the investigation’s findings until after the polls, which were boycotted by the three main opposition parties.

“The Election Commission is always siding with the Thai Rak Thai party and shows no serious intention of carrying out the probe,” Suthep Thueksuban, secretary-general of the opposition Democrat Party, told reporters Tuesday.

In a separate complaint, the Democrat Party has alleged that Thaksin’s party hired people to run as candidates, paying each of them between 100,000 baht to 3 million baht (US $2,500-$77,500).

Critics allege Thaksin’s party was trying to avoid a technicality of electoral law that requires unopposed candidates to win a minimum of 20 percent of votes from their district for the result to be valid.

Thaksin named his longtime friend and deputy prime minister, Chitchai Wannasathit, to serve as acting leader until a new government can be formed.

Thaksin was scheduled to fly to England with his family later this week for a vacation around the Thai New Year holiday, which starts Thursday.


By Rungrawee C Pinyorat/AP Writer/Bangkok, Thailand
April 12, 2006
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