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Published on December 25, 2007

The race to form a coalition government is proceeding rapidly, with the People Power Party well-placed, after reportedly locking in support from two small parties to secure a slight majority of seats.

By bringing in the Pracharaj Party (5 MPs) and Matchima Thipataya (7 MPs), People Power (232 MPs) has increased its bargaining power in negotiations to form the new government. It aims to tie up 280 to 300 MPs under its wing.

PPP secretary-general Surapong Suebwonglee said some parties had agreed to help it form a government and that they had legitimacy to lead the new administration.

However, the PPP would wait until the Election Commission announced the official result, by January 3, Surapong said. Then the party would confirm the official formation of its coalition.

Surapong said he would invite the parties to discuss how the new government would get the country back on track and restore unity in society and confidence among investors.

PPP would take over key economic portfolios but would share some positions with other coalition partners, he said.

There has been speculation that a PPP-led government would dissolve the Assets Examination Committee, but Surapong said party executives had not discussed the issue, as it was not at the top of its agenda.

The AEC was set up by leaders of the September 2006 coup to investigate a series of corruption scandals and possible charges against deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Surapong also ruled out a PPP plan to give amnesty to the 111 executives of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party. He said that was not a big issue at this point.

Surapong said his party had doubts about the vote count in Bangkok constituencies, where most of its candidates lost to the Democrat Party. PPP was collecting evidence and would reveal its findings soon, he said.

But the PPP's rush to form the government has not been plain sailing. Party leader Samak Sundaravej had planned to hold a news conference to announce the formation of the new government at the Radisson Hotel in Bangkok with representatives of the Pracharaj and Matchima Thipataya parties.

But the two parties declined to show up after learning at midnight that Banharn Silapa-archa of the Chart Thai Party (37 MPs) was trying to form a pact with Puea Pandin (25 MPs) to increase his bargaining power.

Later, Samak told CNN the PPP had already sealed a deal with two small parties and would give it support from two more parties soon. Although Samak did not spell out the names, the two other parties were identified as Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana and Puea Pandin. 

Suthep Thaugsuban, secretary-general of the Democrat Party (166 MPs), was quick to rebuff the PPP claims, saying its claim of coalition support had no credibility. If the PPP could muster support from the smaller parties, it should have been able to bring representatives of those parties to the news conference, he said.

Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva has his hopes up. He said a government led by his party would not be unstable, but noted that he had not contacted any other parties yet.

The Democrats are waiting for other parties to announce whether they will join People Power to form a government before the Democrats enter into discussions with them.

"If Chart Thai, Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana and Puea Pandin announce they will not join the PPP, then the PPP will not be able to form a government because it has too few seats," Abhisit said.

And exact seat numbers won't be confirmed until January 3, when the Election Commission will announce which candidates will be disqualified because of electoral irregularities or fraud. Preliminary reports show most complaints of poll irregularities are from the North and the Northeast, which are the political strongholds of the PPP.

Banharn is playing an audacious game, by aiming to become prime minister himself. He has tried to secure support from Vatana Asavahame, the advisory chairman of the Puea Pandin Party, so Chart Thai and Puea Pandin can win bargaining power to tip the balance between the PPP and the Democrat Party.

Banharn refused yesterday to commit his party to any coalition formulas and said his decision would be in the national interest.

"I have nothing new to report as I went to bed around 2.30am last night and woke up at 10am," he said, indicating no new developments on forming a coalition with either side.

Banharn said he anticipated the coalition negotiations might last more than two weeks.

He said he had not been approached by Samak to form an alliance and he side-stepped a direct question on whether he could work with Samak by telling reporters to refer to the meeting of the parties before the April 2 election last year.

Because of the turmoil then, the opposition alliance of Chart Thai, the Democrats and Mahachon invited the then ruling Thai Rak Thai Party to ratify a pledge to amend the charter after the voting. The ruling party refused and organised a meeting of its own, triggering the election boycott.

However, at this point, it looks like the Democrats and Chat Thai have been isolated and are likely become the opposition if People Power manages to secure support from other parties, all of which are made up of ex-Thai Rak Thai members.

 Piyanart Srivalo,

 Sucheera Pinijparakarn,

 Kornchanok Raksaseri

 The Nation