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Published on January 2, 2008

Neither the People Power Party nor the Democrat Party could make a coalition work without the backing of the two medium-sized parties, he said.

"Chart Thai and Puea Pandin will meet on January 2 to decide about joining People Power and if the two [sides] can't reach an agreement, then they'll walk a separate path," he said.

The PPP's claim to a majority of 254 House seats was too slim to sustain a coalition, while the Democrats could never garner 247 votes for an alliance, as the odds would be against the new government functioning, he said.

Chart Thai leader Banharn Silapa-archa has yet to finalise his decision on the matter, he added.

As for the PPP getting red-carded, he did not see the Election Commission disqualifying so many MPs-elect.

"I don't think it's possible to remove 20 to 30 winning candidates for election fraud," he said.

The only way to cancel the PPP's victory was to link the party to the distribution of VCDs with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra trying to sway votes in spite of his ban from politics, but there was virtually no chance for this to happen, he said.

The EC was fair in its rulings, he said.

Democrat secretary-general Suthep Thuagsuban had claimed to be ready for the coalition formation because he anticipated a large number of red cards against the PPP, Sanan said.

The PPP should closely monitor how its MPs vote for the prime minister as under the new political system there would be a free vote, he said.

Before the appointment of the prime minister was finalised, agreements on the coalition make-up would remain tentative as anything could happen at any time if most MPs decided not to vote the party line, he said.

His party was sticking with the Democrats until the new coalition finally emerges, but if it switched to the new alliance, party leaders would definitely meet to explain the decision to the Democrats in order to part ways on amicable terms, he added.

A Puea Pandin source said party key figures met at the JW Marriott Hotel to discuss their progress in joining a PPP-led coalition government. Yet, after the huddle ended at noon, it was not sure that the party's key members would make an announcement, the source said.

However, the party has no problem with joining the coalition government, the source said, even though the PPP and small parties held an urgent press conference on Monday.

 The Nation