Kittiratt backed to lead new party

Former stock exchange president Kittiratt Na Ranong is the top candidate to lead the Ruam Jai Thai (Thai Unity) Group, of which he is a co-founder, according to sources in the group.

Former Thai Rak Thai Party deputy leader Somkid Jatusripitak, whose Thamma Thippatai group forms the core of Ruam Jai Thai, is out of the running following the court-ordered dissolution of the party for electoral fraud and a five-year ban from politics on its 111 executives.

The ban means Somkid will not be eligible to lead Ruam Jai Thai once it registers as a political party as planned.

"Kittiratt is an interesting choice. We let him run the show at the group's launch last week and he did very well," fellow Ruam Jai Thai co-founder Pradit Pattaraprasit told The Nation.

Pradit said the group was still undecided on the choice of leader, but one of the main qualifications would be an excellent grounding in economics.

Pradit said Somkid would be appointed the party's chief adviser once it was registered, which is expected to take place around September, after which the party structure, including the leadership, would be announced.

Kittiratt, who is considered to be one of Somkid's trusted inner circle, first entered the public spotlight when Somkid, as finance minister in the first Thaksin Shinawatra government, endorsed him as president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).

Like Somkid, Kittiratt is soft-spoken, diplomatic and politically retiring. His stewardship of the SET is generally regarded as a success - he broadened and deepened the exchange but also gave it wider public appeal through social and education programmes.

On the other hand, an investment in Family Knowhow, the SET's media production company, raised questions about the role of the exchange. Kittiratt also failed to convince the government to endorse the listing of Thai Beverage Co, which went on to list in Singapore due to local protests by Buddhist groups.

After leaving the SET, he joined the faculty of Sasin Graduate School of Business Administration, where he earlier earned his master's degree.

A source said Ruam Jai Thai, under Kittiratt's leadership, could tap the Bangkok voter base of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai and of former city governor Bhichit Rattakul, another of the group's founders.

The source said they were targeting votes from Bangkok's middle class and businessmen who recognised Kittiratt's performance as stock exchange president.

Moreover, as manager of the national football team, Kittiratt would also find support in the sports sector.

Another source said it was possible that Kittiratt would also get the voter base of former Thai Rak Thai deputy leader Sudarat Keyuraphan, with whom he was a classmate at Sasin. Kittiratt's introduction to politics was helping Sudarat's campaign for the Bangkok governor election in 2000.

The close relationship between Kittiratt and Sudarat might again lead to the question raised when Somkid first made plans to form a new party - would it be a mutation of Thaksin's disbanded party?

Suwit Mesinsee, another Ruam Jai Thai founder, insisted there was no love lost between Somkid and Thaksin. The relationship during Thaksin's second term was not good.

"The sour relationship was more due to Thaksin's inner circle than differences between the two of them," Suwit said.

It will be interesting to see how Sudarat, one of Thaksin's inner circle, connects with the "new power" figures.

Political Desk

The Nation