Thammanat Prompow, 21 MPs booted from Palang Pracharat

After a meeting of the executive members of the Palang Pracharat Party yesterday, a shocking 22 MPs including popular but controversial Secretary-General Thammanat Prompow who made headlines after details of an arrest and jail time in Australia came to light recently. Once a rockstar in the ruling party who called himself the main artery of the party, Thammanat was pushed out along with every member considered loyal to him.

The media is reporting that the decision was based on in-fighting with other prominent party members and internal political conflict. The drama within the party may serve to further previous rumours of various scheming to push out PM Prayut Chan-o-cha while the former Deputy Agricultural Minister would assume the position of Prime Minister, rumours that Thammanat himself denied in August. The whispers were strong enough though that, after surviving call for a vote of no confidence, the Prime Minister promptly stripped Thammanat of his position in the Ministry of Agriculture.

Though the jettison of the 22 MPs was not put into effect immediately, Thammanat has already put out a statement online, joking about which party he should join next, and thanking the public for their support.

Two other former Palang Pracharat Party members recently launched a new political party to enter the complicated world of Thai politics. The Building Thailand’s Future Party seems to be a centrist but progressive party, claiming not to be extreme in either way, but focused on bringing together politicians and academics to usher in a new generation and move the country forward into the future according to an announcement they made.

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“We, Building Thailand’s Future, won’t go for the extreme. We are not extremely right nor left. We will not cheat and betray the nation. We volunteer to be another option for Thai people. We’d like to invite everyone to create the future of Thailand together.”

SOURCE: The Pattaya News