Speculation growing over merger between Bhumjaithai and Kla Tham parties
A recent get-together over dinner at an Indian restaurant in a Bangkok hotel between Anutin Charnvirakul, prime minister and leader of the ruling Bhumjaithai party, and Capt. Thamanat Prompow, leader of the Kla Tham party, has set off widespread speculation within media circles that the Kla Tham party might merge with Bhumjaithai.
When asked by the media about get-together with Capt. Thamanat, the prime minister simply responded “hungry, hungry” and refused to talk about the rumoured merger, which would add support for the ruling party ahead of the upcoming no confidence debate.
Also attending the dinner was Chada Thaised, a key member of the Bhumjaithai party.
Most political gurus concur, however, that the get-together was meant to send a less than subtle message to the Pheu Thai party, a key coalition partner, specifically Wisut Chainarun, chief whip of the Pheu Thai Party.
Wisut is reported to have said that the Pheu Thai party has no duty to defend the 18 cabinet ministers, including the prime minister, being targeted by the Opposition in the censure debate. He reportedly said that his party’s role is listen to the opposition MPs’ before deciding how to vote.
Politically, Wisut’s statement was interpreted as a veiled threat that Pheu Thai might not vote for the “grilled” ministers, and this political move was not missed by a veteran politician like Newin Chidchob, the de facto leader and so-called “headmaster” of the Bhumjaithai Party. Hence, the Bhumjaithai’s political demonstration that it still has a choice, even if it does not have the support of Pheu Thai in the censure debate vote.
The government’s chief whip, Korrawee Prissananantakul, said, however, that it is too early to talk about a merger between the Bhumjaithai and Kla Tham parties.
He pointed to Section 99 (paragraph 2) of the Constitution, which prohibits the merger of parties which have MPs in the House during the tenure of the House of Representatives. Therefore, a merger of parties is not possible until the House’s 4-year term expires.
There are, though, two ways for MPs to switch to other parties. One is, according to Section 101 (9), being dismissed from the party by three-fourths of the combined votes of the party’s MPs and executives. In which case, the dismissed MP(s) must join a new party within 30 days. A good example was the dismissal of Capt. Thamanat Prompow and his faction from the Palang Pracharath party twice and their joining Thai Economics and Kla Tham parties respectively.
The second way is to dissolve a party and then to join a new party within 60 days.
Nonetheless, there is no direct way for a merger of two or more parties.
During the censure debate, Kla Tham can show its sincerity towards the government by voting in support of all the 18 ministers grilled by the Opposition.
If, however, the government decides to bring in the Kla Tham Party, it will have to deal with the question of its image and a cabinet shakeup, which may cause several incumbent ministers to lose their posts.
The current constitution was designed to stop the “buying and selling” of MPs, thus preventing a major and financially strong party from co-opting smaller parties for political gain, as manifested by the merger of Thai Rak Thai, Seri Tham, Chart Pattana and Kuam Wang Mai, which led to the landslide victory of Thai Rak Thai in 2005 election. The party won 377 seats in the House and formed a single party government.
As a result, the then prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was not subjected to a censure debate because the Opposition could not muster the 200 votes to support a censure motion.
The coup that toppled the Thaksin regime led to a new charter in 2017, which introduced several new rules, such as those stipulated in Section 256, which makes it extremely difficult for the charter to be amended.