Sondhi 'to lead' PAD political party

Core leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have agreed to set up a new political party, with Sondhi Limthongkul expected to become its first leader and the four other co-leaders party executives, sources said yesterday.

The decision came shortly before today's gathering of PAD leaders and supporters at Thammasat University's Rangsit campus.

The PAD is set to assemble today and tomorrow to vote whether it should establish its own political party. However, the sources said that the meeting would only be a matter of form as a decision to form the party had already been reached by the core leaders.

The core leaders rejected the idea of the leader's position going to some "outsider" such as Rangsit University rector and former House speaker Arthit Urairat or former national police chief General Seripisut Temiyavej, according to the sources.

Sondhi wants a new party to be established as soon as possible, albeit carefully, in order to materialise the PAD's ideology of "new politics", the sources said.

The PAD's moves to form a new political party come amid speculation that the current Democrat-led government will be short-lived and that a dissolution of the House of Representatives is likely before the end of this year.

A general election is expected at latest some time next year as the coalition government's stability is weakening.

The new PAD party, which has yet to be named, is expected to win between 30 and 40 seats in the next general election and become one of the "middle-sized parties", the sources said.

Somkiat Pongpaiboon, one of the PAD's five core leaders, last week said he wanted the leaders not to take executive roles in a new party but continue with their roles in the civic sector.

Suriyasai Katasila, the PAD coordinator, said yesterday that the group had yet to register any political party and that it had nothing to do with the group of people who had registered political parties with names suggesting connections to the PAD. Those include Thien Hang Dharma (Candles of Dharma), Prachaphiwat (Civic Revolution), and Phanthamit (Alliance).

General Pathompong Kesornsuk, a lesser luminary of the PAD, said yesterday that the idea for the group to form a new political party was due to the "inefficiency and failure" of the existing political parties.

"One concern is what a new PAD party will do to lead the country in the desired and expected direction," he said.

The retired general said there was an 80-per-cent chance of the PAD deciding to set up a new political party.