Thaksin video CDs may scupper PPP

GENERAL ELECTION

Thaksin video CDs may scupper PPP

Party faces prospect of dissolution as EC decides to look into former premier's attempt at long-distance campaigning

Published on December 8, 2007

The People Power Party, widely seen as a reincarnation of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party, is being threatened with possible dissolution after the release of video clips of the ex-PM wooing voter support for the party.

Election Commission member Sodsri Satayathum said yesterday the EC might also review the PPP's involvement in falsified membership records, which could lead to criminal proceedings and its possible disbandment.

The EC will be asked to urgently investigate whether Thaksin broke a Constitution Tribunal ban by helping the PPP's campaign through the distribution of 5 million CDs in northeastern provinces. Thaksin is one of the former Thai Rak Thai members banned from politics by the tribunal in May.

The move came after reports that the CDs - with a message from Thaksin to vote for People Power - will be distributed to almost every household in the Northeast to boost the party's popularity ahead of the December 23 election.

Sodsri said she believed Thaksin had committed an electoral offence, as in the clips he tries to persuade voters to vote for the PPP.

Weera Somkwamkid, secretary-general of the People's Network against Corruption, said he would file a complaint with the EC on Tuesday over the CDs' distribution.

"Thaksin said clearly that he was behind the setting up of the People Power Party. This is a serious case that could lead to dissolution of a party,'' he said.

Weera said he had been tipped off about the CD's existence by a close aide of Thaksin. The aide said the clips had been filmed in places where Thaksin has resided during his exile - from Hong Kong to London - and that 5 million copies would be made in Thailand.

The CD includes a 26-minute speech by Thaksin filmed at his London home and which has never previously been seen. Thaksin starts his message by seeking sympathy for having to live in exile, attacking the government for his having to stay out of the country.

The former premier says he was behind the move to set up People Power and ends his speech by urging people to vote for the party.

People Power secretary-general Surapong Suebwonglee said the party had nothing to do with the CD. He said the EC should investigate whether the clips were produced before or after the Royal Decree on the general election was issued.

He believes the clips were made before the decree was published, as Thaksin does not mention the date of the election.

PPP executive Suthin Klangsaeng said the CD's distribution could be the work of an ill-intentioned group that wants to destroy the party.

Sukhumpong Ngonkam, another PPP executive, said party members had been warned not to break the law and no one was involved in the making and distribution of the CD.

Meanwhile, Thaksin yesterday proposed a government of national unity to rule the Kingdom for two years after the election, and that this should be followed by another poll under a new constitution.

"Why don't we have national reconciliation by having a national unity government," Thaksin said in an interview with Reuters in Hong Kong.

"If you take it seriously, and if you push ahead with the plan, I think two years should be about the right time to bring back unity, bring back our full democracy and let the people decide again," he was quoted as saying. Thaksin also insisted that he would never be prime minister again.

"I don't want to go back to being prime minister. It's too much already," he said. "My wife will divorce me if I go back to politics."

Thaksin rejected calls for a national unity government when he was in power and serious political conflict was brewing.

Chaowarin Latthasaksiri, a PPP candidate, said yesterday he expected Thaksin to return to Thailand in February, after a new government has been formed.

The Nation