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Published on February 2, 2008

He was speaking during the party's seminar in Pattaya aimed at changing its strategies after the December election. The party will also discuss changing its executives and the party's structure to meet its goal of winning at least 240 seats in the next election.

Abhisit said the shadow cabinet would be ready a few days after the Cabinet members' endorsement. The Democrats will assign its personnel to follow ministerial work in parallel with the People Power Party-led government.

The shadow cabinet will also have weekly meetings, though the day has yet to be decided, he said.

The shadow ministers must follow the work of each ministry and suggest solutions to problems, he said.

Abhisit said the six-party government should follow the policies it promised to people during the election campaign.

Party spokesman Ong-art Klampaiboon said naming members of the shadow cabinet would depend both on Abhisit and on the members' willingness.

Members will not be paid extra, nor will they be allowed to lead any House committees, he added. However, their efforts should pay off in the next elections.

Ong-art also said a list of names for House committees had not been completed and that the Opposition and Government whips had yet to discuss the panels needed.

The shadow ministers will have a team to support their work, Ong-art explained. Assigning work in areas for working teams as in the past was less clear about team members' responsibility, and the members were less enthusiastic, he said.

Ong-art said after the seminar that the party had discussed new strategies to get more than 240 MP seats in the next election so as to be able to form a one-party government.

He said the party had found it had lots of hard work to do to meet the goal. The seminar also discussed strategies on MPs and candidates for the next election as well as their teams and the party's financial management.

Besides the shadow cabinet, which will demonstrate how viable an alternative it is, the party will divide the 76 provinces into 10 zones and assign staffs to them, he said, which should make work more effective than in the past.

MPs and staffers will be assigned to visit localities to study their problems and suggest solutions, he said, though details had yet to be discussed.

Kornchanok Raksaseri

The Nation

Pattaya