By Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s Pheu Thai party will exclude the army-backed Palang Pracharat party from its coalition when it forms the next government, an official said on Tuesday, signaling cracks in the difficult alliance with its bitter rivals in the military.
The decision came after Pheu Thai MPs expressed outrage that Palang Pracharat chairman Prawit Wongsuwon, a general involved in coup attempts against Pheu Thai and its predecessors, failed to attend a parliamentary vote to confirm new Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
“The Palang Pracharat Party will not be involved in forming the government,” Sorawong Thienthong, secretary general of the Pheu Thai Party, told Reuters.
Last year, the Pheu Thai Party caused a surprise when it broke its promise not to cooperate with military-backed parties and allowed the 40-seat Palang Pracharat Party to join its 11-party coalition.
Its influential leader Prawit, a former army chief with powerful ties to Thailand’s monarchist establishment, has a turbulent relationship with the billionaire founders of the Pheu Thai party, the politically dominant Shinawatra family, whose governments he helped to overthrow twice.
Sorawong took the seat loss in his stride, saying the Pheu Thai coalition could still expect to win more than 300 of the 500 parliamentary seats.
He said the Pheu Thai Party would bring in a splinter group from the Palang Pracharat Party, which is plagued by internal discord, and also merge with its former but now weaker rival, the Democrat Party, which has 25 seats.
Earlier this month, Paetongtarn, the 38-year-old daughter of influential heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra, won a parliamentary election to become Thailand’s youngest prime minister, just days after her ally Srettha Thavisin was ousted as prime minister by a court.
Paetongtarn, the third Shinawatra to lead Thailand, is currently in the process of forming her cabinet and is expected to present her government’s policies in the middle of next month.
Palang Pracharat spokesman Piya Tavichai said the Pheu Thai Party had not informed them of the decision, thereby breaking their agreement.
“All Palang Pracharat Party MPs, except our chairman who was busy elsewhere, voted for the prime minister,” Piya said. “This is a breach of their promise and lacks manners.”
(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Martin Petty)
