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If Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha is no longer in power, the system designed to prolong dictatorships could also begin to dissipate, according to Sita Divari, a former candidate for Bangkok governor of Thai Sang Thai Party told Thai Enquirer.
“General Prayut was the head of the NCPO (National Council for Peace and Order) and he was the one who conducted the coup, tore up the constitution, and declared himself as premier before spending five years coming up with a system to transfer his power. He set up independent institutions, appointed the senate, and the junta-drafted charter,” Sita said in a phone interview.
“If Prayut is out, I believe that this system will begin to break down,” he said.
Sita, 57, explained that if Prayut is no longer in power, it would be easier to amend the law to get rid of NCPO’s heritage.
“This government is using the power of appointed independent institutions to make wrongs into rights, and they are also using this power to attack political opposition and influence politicians to join them in order to avoid prosecution,” he added. “If Prayut is out, we can start to rebuild our democratic system without a dictator who is doing everything he can just to remain in power.”
Sita made headlines on Monday when one of his social media posts went viral with more than 115,000 retweets.
“I do not know if things would be better when he comes into power but I know that things will definitely be better if you leave,” he wrote on Twitter.
The former fighter pilot was referring to Prayut’s comments on Monday when he questioned whether Chadchart Sittipunt, the incoming governor of Bangkok, will improve anything in the capital. Prayut also said that the result of an election in one province does not reflect the popularity of the government.
According to Sita, Prayut’s comments indicate that he doesn’t care about the people’s desire for political change.
“Even if we combined all the votes from 27 other candidates, Chadchart would still win and this fact should already show Prayut what the people want to see,” Sita said. “I do not think that the voters who voted for Chadchart completely dislike or are dissatisfied with other candidates, but I believe that they saw that they need to combine their power to get rid of something that is currently dominating this country, which is Prayut.”
Thai Sang Thai
Sita, who received the seventh-highest vote in the Bangkok gubernatorial election, said the results of the election were satisfying for the party.
“This election was like a sandbox that helped us promote our ideology and policies,” Sita said. “The results were satisfying because we gained more than what we hoped for.”
Thai Sang Thai, which was launched less than a year ago, understood from the start that the chance to win the race was very small since other candidates were well qualified and some of them started their election campaign long before Thai Sang Thai.
Nonetheless, the party announced Sita’s candidacy on March 30, less than two months before the election took place last Sunday. The five-year ban from politics that he received before joining Thai Sang Thai also meant that he was less known to the public when compared to other candidates.
Sita was one of the executives of the now-dissolved Thai Rak Thai Party who were banned from politics after the Constitutional Court found the party guilty of electoral fraud.
“I have been trying to stay in the background after the ban and we know that our chances were small, but we also know that we will be competing at the next general election so there is no way that we can just ignore the importance of the election in the capital which led to my candidacy,” Sita continued.
His party gained two seats in the Bangkok council, satisfying the party as their goal was to obtain two to three seats.
“Many of the votes for us and the Move Forward Party went to Chadchart, but the votes that we received still show that this new party has already gained a foothold,” Sita said. “And with the number of votes that are close to parties that have established themselves before us, this was a good start.”
Sita, who is considered as the right-hand man of party leader Sudarat Keyuraphan, noted that he will continue to work with Thai Sang Thai from behind the scenes, or he may run as an MP candidate for the next general election, although he admitted that the latter option is less likely.
“I will discuss it with the party’s executive board, but if I run as district MP, I will not have time to help the party as one of its architects to help form its policies,” the veteran politician said.
“I am getting old, and I have a lot of experience in politics, so I should be helping with the formation of the party’s policies more than running in the election.”