Prepare for poll, PM tells party
Thai Rak Thai Party leader Thaksin Shinawatra told key members of his party to continue their preparations for the election campaign while he is abroad from September 9 to 15, the party executive Sutham Saengpratoom said yesterday.
Thaksin is scheduled to join the Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) in Finland on September 10-11. Key members of the party attending the meeting included deputy party leaders Chidchai Vanasatidya and Pinij Charusombat, and executive Sermsak Pongpanich. Thaksin's wife Pojaman also attended as an observer, he said. Thaksin told key members to discuss the party's policies for the election and rank the party-list MP candidates, and also present the party's policies through the media on the weekends, he said. He said Thaksin was happy to see Thai Rak Thai members working together. The party's slogan for the election will be "Cut spending, increase income, expand opportunity", he said. The 400 constituency MP candidates have already been selected. A source from the Thai Rak Thai, who asked not to be named, said the party was preparing to introduce the candidates within two weeks with the plan to regain the faith of urban people through policies like building mass transit systems and residences in Bangkok. The move came after the Cabinet had earlier endorsed a request by Senate Speaker Suchon Chaleekrua for an extraordinary parliamentary session between Friday and Sunday to allow the Upper House to select the five election commissioners. Royal approval is needed for such a special session. In the Cabinet meeting, Thaksin told the ministers to be careful not to violate election laws as the Election Decree was still active. However, he said the Council of State, the government legal advisory arm, should begin drafting the new Election Decree so that the government could propose it for royal endorsement soon after the new Election Commission (EC) schedules a fresh date for the poll. The prime minister has to ask His Majesty the King for the cancellation of the current Election Decree and seek royal endorsement of the new one. Thai Rak Thai Party spokesman Sita Divari said Thaksin would be the first in the party-list. He said there was no reason for caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak not to contest the next election as a party-list candidate. Sita said Somkid was still a member of the party's election campaign committee, which formulated campaign themes for the party. "Since he is making election preparations for the party, there is no reason for him not to run," Sita said. "So far, he is willing to work for the Thai Rak Thai but it will be up to him to make the final decision," he said.
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