Ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra urged the police today to crack down on “dark influences” in Prachin Buri following the fatal shooting of former provincial councillor Chaimet Sitthisanitphong at his stepfather's house on Wednesday night.
Chaimet was shot to death at the house of his stepfather, Sunthorn Wilawan, who is the mayor of the Prachin Buri Provincial Administrative Organisation (PAO).
Sunthorn was present when the killing occurred. An autopsy revealed that Chaimet’s body was riddled with bullet wounds.
Thaksin praised the local police for their swift response to the violent incident, by taking into custody all seven people who were in the house at the time of the shooting, including Sunthorn.
Sunthorn’s daughter, Kanokwan, is a former Bhumjaithai party-list MP and former deputy education minister in the government of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha.
She was not at the house at the time of the shooting.
Thaksin told the media that Prachin Buri province has been the political turf of Sunthorn for a long time and the local politics there are known to be violent, occasionally resulting to fatalities when local politicians fail to settle their conflicts peacefully.
Referring to a leaked audio clip, purportedly to contain a conversation between the deceased and an aide of Thaksin, the former prime minister disclosed that Pheu Thai members in the province wanted Chaimet’s wife to run for a seat on the PAO and this arrangement had been settled with Sunthorn.
Chaimet’s wife decided to pull out of the race, he said, adding that he suspected that Chaimet was summoned to Sunthorn’s house on Wednesday night to settle the issue over the PAO candidacy.
Following the shooting, Thaksin said the Pheu Thai party is yet to decide whether to field another candidate in the PAO election.
He admitted that local politics has, for a long time, been plagued by violence in many provinces and, this time, he said police should set an example by cracking down hard on local organised crime figures.
Asked whether the Pheu Thai party will contest PAO elections in the southern provinces, he said that the party has no political base of support in the region.
