Bhum Jai Thai loyal for how long?

The 40-member parliamen-tary committee for national rec-onciliation, political reform and charter amendment is reviewing electoral laws.

No matter how difficult the members find it to agree, or how much academics attack the com-mittee members' efforts, mem-bers have tried to stick to the issues. They claim there are signs of reconciliatory consen-sus.

A prominent Democrat, who asked not to be named, said the government could find itself in a vulnerable situation, as Bhum Jai Thai may challenge the Democrats' position, but the two parties should join hands and prolong the life of the administra-tion for a further seven months.

Also if the 2010 Budget Bill was passed, the ruling parties would need time to spend the money and achieve results for the public.

"Each party should compete to show the people what they can do for them. Therefore, we must wait and see how the government can spend the budget and imple-ment each parties' policies," the source said.

But when it came to whether his party was ready for an elec-tion now, the MP said that depended on implementing the committee's proposals.

Opposition MPs had been more yielding on matters of con-flict in talks, he said. They would comply with the rules and were more likely to accept the upcom-ing competition.

Another key Democrat, who asked not to be named, said Bhum Jai Thai could face a big challenge later this year if a court ruled against any of its members in cases involving previous gov-ernments.

Anyhow, the source said, Bhum Jai Thai was likely to choose Pheu Thai Party as a coalition partner next time instead of the Democrats.

A key member of Pheu Thai, who asked not to be named, agreed that Bhum Jai Thai was more likely to team up with it than the Democrats.

What Newin Chidchob, the de facto leader of Bhum Jai Thai, may have done in the past would not be as important in terms of joining up with Pheu Thai as the political atmosphere during the election, he said.

The sooner an election was held the better chance that Pheu Thai had of winning, the source said. Pheu Thai MPs were always ready to run in an election as they kept in contact with the pub-lic. He hoped the party could keep a similar number of suc-cessful MP candidates.

On the other hand, the gov-ernment was vulnerable. It could face big problems at any time. Economic and budget problems could be major concerns. Therefore, the later an election was held, the more likely the gov-ernment would lose popularity.

Nevertheless, the Pheu Thai source said his party was waiting for improved rules for the coming election. He believed that with rules fairer to his party, more promising candidates would join his party.

kornchanok@nationgroup.com