Published on October 18, 2005

A senior government figure yesterday dismissed an allegation that the ruling Thai Rak Thai party was using its power over local officials in a bid to win the October 30 by-elections, particularly in Phichit.

“We [the TRT] have received a warm welcome from local residents, so we don’t need to use bureaucrats,” said Transport Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal, who heads the ruling party’s campaigning in Phichit.

He said that local officials have remained neutral.

Pongsak was responding to allegations by the opposition Mahachon Party, which is contesting the Phichit by-election against TRT.

The ruling party has fielded candidates in Phichit, Uthai Thani and Sing Buri, but has shied away from Satun in the far South, where the only candidate standing is from the opposition Democrat Party.

Pongsak rejected Mahachon’s allegation that officers of the Crime Suppression Division were dispatched from Bangkok to Phichit recently to undermine the opposition’s campaigning. “That’s not true. We don’t do anything that’s unlawful,” he said.

The TRT and Mahachon were involved in a close fight in the run-up to the October 30 by-election, Pongsak said.

He said Mahachon leader Sanan Kachornprasart had put pressure on local residents by announcing last week that he would leave Phichit for good if his son Siriwat – the party’s candidate – loses the upcoming by-election.

Yesterday, Sanan countered a remark by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that his long political career was over.

“I may be ageing but my brains are sometimes unmatched by younger politicians, even the prime minister himself,” Sanan said.

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