These are strange days in Thai politics. Yesterday, the Pheu Thai Party, the leader of Thailand’s ruling coalition, announced that it had formally invited the Democrat Party to join the government after cutting its ties with a party backed by the Thai military.
Sorawong Thienthong, secretary-general of Pheu Thai, said he delivered a formal invitation to Det-it Khaothong, secretary-general of the Democrat Party, yesterday, according to a report in The Nation. This came a day after he told party leader Chalermchai Sri-on that the party, Pheu Thai’s former arch-rival, was cordially invited to join the ruling coalition.
“We decided to invite the Democratic Party because we need to ensure stability in the House of Representatives,” Sorawong said. “We are inviting not only the Democrats but also other parties and political groups to join the coalition.”
Pheu Thai is currently in the process of forming a new coalition under Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra after her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, was forced to resign by the Constitutional Court on August 14. Srettha was accused of a “gross ethical violation” for appointing an official to his cabinet who had previously served a prison sentence.
In his address to the Democrats, Sorawong said the Pheu Thai Party had decided to bury the hatchet. “The past is the past. Now we are confident that we all have the same goal, which is to lead the people and the country in a good direction,” he said. Sorawong said a change in leadership in the Democrats – Det-it and Chalermchai were both appointed in December – had made it easier to overcome old animosities.
“It is time for the two parties to work together to solve people’s problems,” Sorawong added. “The country has been in decline for years, and it is time for the two parties to move forward together and put conflicts and misunderstandings behind.”
Still, the decision to partner with the Democrats marks another wild switch of allegiances for Pheu Thai. Although severely weakened—the party won just 25 seats in the last general election—the conservative Democrats played a central role in the red-yellow wars of the 2000s and early 2010s that culminated in the 2014 military coup. A decade ago, such a partnership would have been unthinkable, but much has changed in Thai politics over the past 18 months. In August 2023, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Pheu Thai’s de facto leader, was allowed to return to Thailand after more than 15 years in self-imposed exile. This was the result of a political agreement with the royalist establishment, under which Pheu Thai also formed a coalition with conservative and military-backed parties after last year’s general election.
In fact, the invitation to the Democrats came after the Pheu Thai Party announced it was cutting ties with one of these military-backed parties, the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP). As suggested above, this was also an unusual partnership: the PPRP chairman, General Prawit Wongsuwan, was a pillar of the conservative royalist establishment and had a long history of clashes with the Pheu Thai Party and the Shinawatra clan, whose governments he helped to topple twice.
But that forced marriage reportedly hit rock bottom after Prawit failed to show up for a parliamentary vote to confirm Paetongtarn as prime minister, angering key Pheu Thai figures. When a reporter later asked him his opinion on Paetongtarn’s choice, the 79-year-old general appeared to physically attack her. Sorawong told Reuters on Tuesday that the PPRP, which holds 40 seats in the House of Representatives, “will not be involved in forming a government.”
The decision comes amid a widely reported dispute between Prawit and a PPRP splinter group led by Thammanat Prompao, the party’s secretary-general who currently serves as agriculture minister. Pheu Thai has reportedly kept the door open for Thammanat’s faction, which the party chief said has the support of 29 of the PPRP’s 40 MPs, as well as members of other smaller parties. It is perhaps no coincidence that Thammanat began his career in Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai party before joining the PPRP after its formation in 2018 and winning a seat in parliament the following year. (Thammanat also served four years in prison in Australia for drug offences.)
Given the animosity between Pheu Thai and Prawit, it was only a matter of time before one or both sides became uncomfortable with their political arrangement, and signs of discontent had been evident on both sides for some time. Pheu Thai officials suspected that Prawit, who frequently stayed away from Parliament, ostensibly for health reasons, was plotting against the party behind the scenes.
People close to PPRP were also apparently unhappy about being forced to work with the Shinawatras. The two former military-appointed senators who filed the Constitutional Court case that led to Srettha’s dismissal were under Prawit’s control. Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, the plaintiff who last week called for an investigation into Paetongtarn Shinawatra for corruption, is also a member of the party.
Even now, former Democrat members are questioning the party’s agreement with Pheu Thai. Sirichoke Sopha, a long-time aide to former Prime Minister and Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, has resigned from the party in protest. Samphan Thongsamak, a long-time former Democrat lawmaker and ex-education minister, said in a private messaging group that current party leaders must be “method addicts” if they wanted to join a Shinawatra-led government and should be sent to rehab.
All this raises the obvious question of whether and for how long Pheu Thai and the Democrats will be able to put their problematic history behind them – assuming Paetongtarn’s government manages to complete the rest of its term. This is where Thammanat’s potential role plays a big role: If Srettha was removed from office for appointing an official with a previous prison sentence to his cabinet, Thai political observer Andrew MacGregor Marshall wrote in a post on Facebook, the same could apply to Thammanat, given his criminal record in Australia.
“The same argument could be used at any time to overthrow Paetongtarn Shinawatra if Thaksin’s enemies wanted it,” he said.
