Srettha Thavisin, a prime ministerial candidate of the front-running Pheu Thai Party, insists that it will not team up in any government involving the two political parties headed by the generals behind the 2014 military coup.
The property tycoon-turned-politician sent a strong message during a campaign rally on Friday night at a school in Wang Saphung district of Loei, cheered on by 3,000 people.
Mr Srettha said the question continues to arise about whether Pheu Thai would join with either the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) or the United Thai Nation (UTN) Party to form a coalition government after the May 14 election.
Palang Pracharath is led by Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, 77, who is also its sole candidate for prime minister. Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the caretaker prime minister and leader of the 2014 coup, is the first prime ministerial candidate of UTN.
Pheu Thai is currently well ahead of all other parties in opinion polls, with some observers saying it could win 200 or more seats (constituency and party list) in the 500-seat House of Representatives. Palang Pracharath and UTN combined are not expected to win more than 100 seats, according to most surveys.
“Do brothers and sisters want us to join them? Over the past eight years, that’s enough,” Mr Srettha told the crowd in Loei.
“We have made clear that we will not join hands with the two parties that played a role in the military coup to plunder people’s sovereign power.
“We are a big ship while they are small boats rowing beside us. We don’t want them to stay close to us. Go a different way. We will certainly not join.”
Mr Srettha, 62, is Pheu Thai’s second prime ministerial candidate after Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 36, the daughter of exiled former premier and party patriarch Thaksin Shinawatra. Chaikasem Nitisiri, 74, is the third candidate.
Mr Srettha promised that his party would tackle costly electricity bills facing many households if it formed the next government.
“Coalition government parties have told people they will solve this problem if they could make a comeback,” he said. “I wonder why they didn’t do it when they were in the government?
“I think that they will have no chance to come back. From now on, it’s the duty of Pheu Thai because all of the problems facing people must be tackled immediately. Do not procrastinate. People’s hardship is in the hearts of all Pheu Thai members,” he said.
If Pheu Thai becomes the core party in the next government, he said, electricity prices would be reduced in four years and farmers’ incomes would be increased three times through smart marketing strategies.
The former chief executive of the real estate developer Sansiri Plc also told the audience about the party’s ambitious “Think Big, Act Smart” manifesto. Its centrepiece is a plan to give 10,000 baht to every Thai aged 16 and over via a digital wallet, to be spent close to home to provide a major stimulus to the economy.
Given that a lot could still change between now and May 14, Gen Prawit continues to hint that an alliance with Pheu Thai is not out of the question.
He has been painting himself as a moderate elder statesman and the new face of reconciliation in a series of lengthy Facebook articles written in his name. In the most recent one, he said he genuinely believes conservatives and liberals in the country can live together peacefully.
He has also poured cold water on the generally held belief that he played an active role in the 2014 coup, saying that Gen Prayut was solely responsible for planning it, and that he only came on the scene afterward to help with setting up a new administration.
Ms Paetongtarn, meanwhile, also appears adamant that Pheu Thai does not want to have anything to do with parties led by retired soldiers. Both her father and her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, were booted out of office by coups.
“Look at my face. This is a face that doesn’t like coups,” she told a group of reporters on Monday.
Mr Srettha and other key Pheu Thai members on Saturday took their campaign roadshow to Phetchabun province.
Pheu Thai candidates in the province’s six constituencies were joined at Witthayanukul Naree School in Muang district by party stalwarts including Chaturon Chaisaeng, Suthin Khlangsaeng, Pichai Naripthaphan, Suriya Juangroongruangkit and Natthawut Saikuar. About 5,000 people packed the venue.
