Samak keen to hang on to top job

EC chairman Apichart Sukhagganond has suggested the PPP faces the possibility of being dissolved. He said the commissioners would adopt the same standards used in the dissolution cases involving the Chart Thai and Matchima Thipataya parties, which are now being studied by the Constitution Court.

Although the dissolution process takes some time key People Power have been preparing for the worst.

If you were PPP leader and PM Samak Sundaravej which of the following options would you take?

A Dissolve the House.

B Resign as prime minister.

C Simply wait for the court ruling at the end of the year.

Some of Samak's colleagues within People Power prefer option A, according to Sukhumpong Ngonkham, who is the party's deputy secretary general.

"Beating the court in a race against time and dissolving the House is the best possible choice.

"We would have more time to reorganise a new party and prepare for an election," he explained.

Their plan is for all PPP mem-bers to move to a new party, such as Puea Thai. The cur-rent 34 executives of People Power, who would be banned from politics if the court dis-solves the PPP, would run as party-list MPs in the new enti-ty.

If the PPP is dissolved later the new party would move other party-list MPs to replace the banned PPP executives.

"If we do nothing but wait until the court ruling it would be trouble for us. The rest of our MPs may join other par-ties instead of staying togeth-er at one party while they are seeking a new party within 60 days to retain their status as MPs," Sukhumpong said.

It sounds good for the PPP but Samak has indicated he's not considering dissolving the House or resigning.

Samak was very lucky to become prime minister. Without former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, he couldn't have done it.

If Samak opts for A or B, he would become acting PM. There would also be no guar-antee his members would back him to be leader again. So his chances of returning to the top job may be slim.

Dissolving Parliament would be risky, as it may be the end of his political career. So the best choice for Samak now is option C - waiting for the court's verdict.

However, one thing could make him change his mind. The Constitution Court is like-ly to rule first on a complaint about his hosting a cooking show on TV.

But he once compared him-self to a low-cost airline, so maybe he has nothing to worry about.