If anyone is wondering why several key veteran politicians are leaving the once powerful Pheu Thai Party to form new parties or to join some of the existing ones, one of its core members, Chaturon Chaisaeng, has an explanation.
Speaking at length to the media on Tuesday, Chaturon quickly ruled out internal conflicts as the cause of the mass resignations. He insisted that political differences are a commonplace in every party, but they are not the reason driving away many of the party members.
He claimed that Pheu Thai Party has been subjected to constant political mistreatment ever since the military coup in 2014. And endless tactics have been employed to block Pheu Thai party from returning to power.
As a result, he said his party is now confronted with two immediate challenges. The first is a prospect that the Pheu Thai Party could be dissolved despite the fact that there is no legal justification for that, said Chaturon. He referred to how two predecessors of Pheu Thai, namely Thai Rak Thai and Palang Prachachon, were dissolved by the Constitutional Court even though they had done nothing wrong.
The second challenge, he said, is that the new electoral system under the current Constitution was clearly designed to weaken major political parties, with Pheu Thai in the cross-hairs.
Confronted with such problems, he said it’s understandable why several Pheu Thai politicians are trying to protect themselves or trying to mitigate the potential damage by flocking to other parties.
What about his own future in the party? “As for myself, I have a lot of obligations with the Pheu Thai party. But when the time comes for a decision needed to be made, I will consider the option that will allow me to work in accordance with my ideology,” said Chaturon.
