Merger plan aborted

The planned merger of the Pracharaj, Matchima Thippatai and Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana will be suspended until after the December 23 election, Pracharaj deputy leader Korn Dabaransi said Sunday.

Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana's key men Sunday insisted National Legislative Assembly member Admiral Bannawit Kengrian, supposedly was representing it in the merger talks, was not authorised to do so. They said the party would not merge with any other political party until after the election.

Failure by Pracharaj and Matchima Thippatai to agree on many important matters also attributed to the short-lived merger plan, sources close to the two parties said Sunday.

The merger plan was the brainchild of Korn and Matchima Thippatai leader Prachai Leophairatana, without the knowledge of Pracharaj leader Snoh Thienthong, according to a Pracharaj source.

Snoh was surprised at the heavy media presence at the meeting venue on Saturday as there was supposed to be a small discussion between leaders of the two parties about "how they would work together", as he had been told, the source said.

At their further talks on Saturday night, Snoh and Prachai could not agree who would become leader of the merged party and what it would be called. They both insisted on their own party's name.

They also could not agree who would have the final say about the fielding of election candidates in case there are too many in one constituency, according to the source.

Korn, one of the key people behind the plan, made the announcement a day after leading members of the three parties to announce they would merge into one.

He said there was not enough time for the three parties to merge because the election decree would take effect soon and the new merged party would be hard pushed to prepare for the election.

He said the party would have to call a caucus and draft policies. The Election Commission would also be starting party list MP candidate registration soon. "We will continue our alliance and good intentions to work together,'' he said.

Korn denied that withdrawing the merger plan was a political drama and that the failure stems from the conflict over who would head the merged party.

"This is politics. Changes happen all the time. We have not talked about that yet. I have talked to Prachai and we still have an understanding. Snoh [Thienthong] is also not attached to the position,'' he said.

A source said Snoh was caught off guard over the three parties merging. He was shocked when he saw an army of reporters waiting at the residence of the late General Chatichai Choonhavan to announce the merger. Matchima Thippatai had been trying hard to get Snoh to agree to the merger.

Snoh has been under stress as some of his party members opposed the plan.

Chat Pattana group leader Suwat Liptapanlop denied his group would defect from Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana Party to merge with other parties.

He was confident the party would win more than 50 MP seats, of which at least 16 would be in the northeastern provinces.

He denied Admiral Bannawit represented Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana in negotiations to merge the three parties.

Party leader General Chettha Thanajaro Sunday said Bannawit was not a party member. He said the party would not merge with any party until after the election. The party has not decided to side with People Power Party or the Democrats.

Anongwan Thepsutin, the Matchima Thippatai secretary general, said Sunday that for her, a merger appeared to be difficult as there were many differences to be settled.

She said that among other things, they would have to agree on the fielding of candidates in constituencies where they have too many aspiring candidates.

The Nation