Pheu Thai announced on 27th August that the Palang Pracharath Party will be excluded from the governing coalition when a new cabinet is finalised next month, to be replaced by the opposition Democrats. Thaksin Shinawatra’s daughter Paetongtarn became Prime Minister on 16th August, though PPRP leader Prawit Wongsuwan was absent from parliament when MPs voted her into office. Prawit also failed to attend parliament for the vote to appoint Paetongtarn’s predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, and he was rumoured to be behind the petition to the Constitutional Court that resulted in Srettha’s dismissal.
Prawit’s conflict with the Thaksin family runs deep, though more recently he has also fallen out with Thammanat Prompao, a fellow PPRP member (and convicted heroin smuggler). Thammanat was Minister of Agriculture in Srettha’s government, but Prawit nominated another MP, Santi Promphat, to replace him in the new Paetongtarn cabinet. This caused a rift within PPRP, and the party split into two rival factions led respectively by Prawit and Thammanat. At a press conference on 27th August, Thammanat made it clear that his relationship with Prawit had broken down, saying: “It’s time for me to declare my freedom.”
On the surface, it appears that Thaksin now has the upper hand: his daughter is PM, creating a Shinawatra dynasty, and his long-standing enemy, Prawit, has been marginalised. But Paetongtarn is now exposed to the same potential fate as previous Pheu Thai prime ministers: being toppled by a military coup or disqualified by the Constitutional Court. (Yingluck Shinawatra was deposed by the 2014 coup, which was allegedly organised by Prawit.) Also, PPRP’s place in the coalition was almost certainly part of a deal struck with the military, allowing Thaksin to return from self-imposed exile, and reneging on this arrangement will be viewed by the military establishment as highly provocative.
Yesterday, in an open letter, Pheu Thai wrote: “we would like to invite the Democrat Party to join the government and work together in running the country for the benefit of the people.” (In 2008, after PTP’s previous incarnation, the People Power Party, was dissolved, the Democrats formed an unelected government that oversaw the military massacre of pro-Thaksin supporters in 2010.) Pheu Thai voters who felt betrayed when the party initially welcomed PPRP into the coalition will surely feel equally let down by yesterday’s invitation to the Democrats.
Prawit’s conflict with the Thaksin family runs deep, though more recently he has also fallen out with Thammanat Prompao, a fellow PPRP member (and convicted heroin smuggler). Thammanat was Minister of Agriculture in Srettha’s government, but Prawit nominated another MP, Santi Promphat, to replace him in the new Paetongtarn cabinet. This caused a rift within PPRP, and the party split into two rival factions led respectively by Prawit and Thammanat. At a press conference on 27th August, Thammanat made it clear that his relationship with Prawit had broken down, saying: “It’s time for me to declare my freedom.”
On the surface, it appears that Thaksin now has the upper hand: his daughter is PM, creating a Shinawatra dynasty, and his long-standing enemy, Prawit, has been marginalised. But Paetongtarn is now exposed to the same potential fate as previous Pheu Thai prime ministers: being toppled by a military coup or disqualified by the Constitutional Court. (Yingluck Shinawatra was deposed by the 2014 coup, which was allegedly organised by Prawit.) Also, PPRP’s place in the coalition was almost certainly part of a deal struck with the military, allowing Thaksin to return from self-imposed exile, and reneging on this arrangement will be viewed by the military establishment as highly provocative.
Yesterday, in an open letter, Pheu Thai wrote: “we would like to invite the Democrat Party to join the government and work together in running the country for the benefit of the people.” (In 2008, after PTP’s previous incarnation, the People Power Party, was dissolved, the Democrats formed an unelected government that oversaw the military massacre of pro-Thaksin supporters in 2010.) Pheu Thai voters who felt betrayed when the party initially welcomed PPRP into the coalition will surely feel equally let down by yesterday’s invitation to the Democrats.
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