PPP man refuses to talk about Thaksin

General News - Saturday December 22, 2007

RACE TO PARLIAMENT

PPP man refuses to talk about Thaksin

SURASAK GLAHAN

Phetchaburi _ Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra may be an idol for many People Power party (PPP) candidates, but not Piya Angkinant. The six-time MP in the central province of Phetchaburi has avoided mentioning his name during his campaign, saying it could pose a threat to his election hopes.

While many PPP candidates have put a strong focus in their campaigns of bringing back Mr Thaksin and spoken about the alleged injustices against him, Mr Piya and his team have tried not to talk about Mr Thaksin because they are afraid it could make the former prime minister's opponents turn their backs on him.

Phetchaburi is one of the provinces where a large number of voters abstained in the annulled polls last year, which was seen as a move opposing the Thaksin administration, which was allegedly plagued with corruption. The abstention votes defeated all three candidates of the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party, which was founded by Mr Thaksin.

''If we say something about him, it would be a threat to our campaign,'' said Mr Piya, who is running alongside his daughter-in-law Thivalratch. ''Those who don't like Mr Thaksin can use it to attack us verbally.''

People here tend to vote for individual candidates rather than for a political party, he said. Mr Piya went up against Democrat Apichart Supapaeng in the 2005 poll and lost. The TRT won one seat through Thani Yeesarn, while the Democrats took two seats. Mr Thani cannot run in this election because he is among the 111 TRT politicians banned due to poll fraud.

The PPP is fielding a new face, former senator Thanin Saengwanich, to compete with the Democrats. He is seen as a strong candidate, despite some local observers believing the PPP's chances of winning even one seat there is slim.

Democrat candidate Alongkorn Pollabutr said he believes his party will win all three seats there. He said many people there were against Mr Thaksin's administration due to alleged corruption and he believes they will vote for the Democrats this time.

The Democrat party had organised forums in many provinces in the Central Plains region to inform people about the flawed administration of Mr Thaksin, which has drawn a lot of attention from the public, he said.

People there focus on a political party's position rather than individual candidates when they cast ballots, he added.

Bangkok Post