Democrats put out feelers about new coalition

Thavorn Sen-niem, deputy secretary-general of the Democrat Party, said the coalition government now lacked legitimacy to continue to run the country.

This follows the verdict of the Supreme Court's Office of the Political Holders, which stood by the ruling of the Election Commission that Yongyuth Tiyaphairat, deputy leader of the People Power Party, violated election law. Yongyuth effectively loses his MP status and is barred from politics for five years.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is also struggling with a corruption case in court involving Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's procurement of a fleet of fire trucks. He is also facing a libel charge in the Appeals Court.

"In other countries, when governments are found to lack ethics, they cannot continue to run their countries," Thavorn said.

Thavorn suggested that other coalition partners should consider forming a new government, presumably with the Democrats as a core leader.

He said the People Power Party, which has 233 MPs, might lose 10 MPs if it were to be dissolved in connection with Yongyuth's election violation.

"If other parties - except the People Power Party - think about the possibility of forming a new coalition government, there would be nothing wrong about it," he said.

Thavorn said the prime minister must not dissolve Parliament as a way out because the MPs from other parties have committed nothing wrong.

"It is not right to use Bt3 billion to Bt4 billion of public money to hold the general election in order to resolve the internal problems of the People Power Party or some Cabinet members from this party," he added.

Thavorn said it would be rather difficult to form a new coalition government, but there is a possibility that it might happen.

In 1997, General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, then prime minister, resigned from office due to his failure to tackle the baht crisis. He did not dissolve Parliament and allowed the Democrats to form a new coalition government instead.

Thavorn said he has not held talks with other coalition partners but is simply trying to know their opinions.

It will take at least seven months in the legal process to dissolve the People Power Party, compared to nine months for the Thai Rak Thai Party.

Snoh Thienthong, leader of the Pracharaj Party, said it was too early to talk about forming a new coalition government.

"Now the People Power Party will be fighting against the dissolution case," he said. "I don't want to speak on behalf of my party but I would like to speak on my own with experience of more than 30 years. I have never witnessed a system of dissolving political parties. Now I have to hold my mind steady."

Snoh said he has not yet consulted with other coalition partners, though the prime minister holds the right to dissolve Parliament.

"We are in the same boat. The boat is facing a big storm. We have to see how we can navigate against the storm," he added.

Somsak Prissanananthakul, the agriculture minister and a deputy leader of the Chart Thai Party, said he could not see any connection between Yongyuth's red card and Samak's plan to dissolve Parliament.

"Now Parliament is in recess. There is no conflict between the government and Parliament. If Parliament is dissolved, it is difficult to answer the question to the public. Yongyuth is an individual case, while Parliament is a body. If the government can work with Parliament, there is no reason to dissolve Parliament," Somsak said.