Snoh miffed, but Pradit hopeful

"Instead of sealing a deal first, Matchima held a press conference on a planned alliance, causing much confusion among Pracharaj supporters," he said.

Snoh ruled out the possibility of dissolving his party in order to join a newly-formed party. He said that before the August 19 referendum, he had had a series of talks with key figures from the two factions, including Somkid Jatusripitak, Somsak Thepsuthin and Pradit Pataraprasith.

"Initially, I saw a great pos¬sibility for an alliance but later things changed because Somkid and Somsak were banned from the electoral process for five years due to the electoral fraud verdict."

He said the alliance, as initially discussed, would have included the Saman Chan Group, led by Suwat Liptapanlop, Suwit Khunkitti, Pinij Charusombat and Preecha Laohapongchana.

Meanwhile, Pradit said the two factions would go ahead and form a new party aimed at becoming a third choice for voters. He expected the party registration process to commence some time next week in order to allow time to gather supporters from other groups.

Pradit admitted to having planned to recruit the Saman Chan Group and Mahachon, the party led by Sanan Kachornprasart, to join his banner.

He was optimistic that his colleagues Somkid and Somsak would eventually convince Snoh to be part of the alliance.

"Snoh wants his Pracharaj Party to be the shell for the new party, but I don't think the nam¬ing issue should be overblown," he said, adding party leaders would be sorted out after the registration process was done.

The soon-to-be formed party would welcome former MPs as well as aspiring candidates to contest the elections under its banner, he said.

As a rule of thumb, some 30 per cent of former MPs usually fail to get re elected, so there was plenty of room for newcomers, he said.

Meanwhile, the Bangkok 50 Group, led by Suranand Vejjajiva and Kunthon Prachuabmoh, announced it would decide in two weeks whether to join the new party.

The Nation