The planned merger of 2 of the newly formed political parties, Thai Saang Thai and Saang Anakhot Thai party, seems to be in limbo following internal conflicts within the 2 parties.
Sources in both parties said that the planned merger ahead of the next election has been delayed due to internal bickering where some members on both sides do not want to merge because of dislike for one another key candidates.
The possible merger of the 2 parties has been in the works for months although no announcement has been made because key members of the 2 parties insisted that they want their leader to be the top candidate for the Prime Minister position.
Thai Saang Thai party is led by Sudarat Keyuraphan, the former leader of the Pheu Thai party, who split to form her own party amid hopes that the elections in 2023 would use similar rules to those seen in 2019 that helped smaller parties gain an upper hand.
But the electoral rules were changed and they are now favoring bigger parties which prompted the mergers of smaller parties into bigger parties to gain leverage.
One of the first mergers was between the Kla Party (led by former Democrat party member Korn Chatikavanij) and the Chart Pattana Party (led by the family of former industry minister Suwat Liptapallop).
Other smaller parties have also started to merge with their bigger rivals and/or MPs are heading to bigger parties in droves such as the case of the Bhumjai Thai Party which is set to announce an influx of nearly 40 MPs to its party later this week (Friday, December 16th).
Saang Anakhot party, which was set up with Somkid Jatusripitak as its Prime Minister candidate, has also been adamant about having Somkid as its candidate.
The Saang Anakhot Party, which was set up by Uttama Savanayana (former Finance Minister under Prayut Chan-o-cha government) and Sonthirat Sonthijirawong (former Commerce & Energy Minister under Prayut’s regime), has also been looking for a possible merger partner and the Thai Saang Thai Party was their 1st choice. However, that plan has been facing many hurdles.
Sudarat openly said that any party looking to merge with her party needs to comply with the Thai Saang Thai Party’s ideology and “platform”, an indirect statement that basically says that she needs to be the top candidate for the Prime Minister position when the election approaches.
Iron Lady Faces Internal Rift
Sources in the political circles say that one of the reasons for the delays in the merger plans is because of the stern stance undertaken by Sudarat who is stubborn about having her name as the key candidate for the Prime Ministership while Saang Anakhot Thai wants Somkid’s name to be on top.
Sudarat’s party has also reportedly seen an internal rift within her party because of the possible merger with many of the MPs who have shown their willingness to move to Sudarat’s Thai Saang Thai Party said that they will change their mind to remain with the party they are in, if such a merger goes through.
Some of the key people in both parties also indicated that as well and nobody knows who will be placed where in the party’s executive line-up, and also on the party-list MP candidates.
As for the Saang Anakhot Thai Party, one of its key leaders Nipit Intarasombat already quit the party to join the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) yesterday, citing his disagreement with a possible merger with the Thai Saang Thai Party.
There are other possible executives who are looking to exit the Saang Anakhot Thai Party as well but the details of these people exiting the party are likely to be known in the next few days or weeks.
During his ordaining ceremony to enter the PPRP, Nipit made a bold statement that the merger between the Thai Saang Thai and the Saang Anakhot Thai Party has already fallen off the cliff.
There was no confirmation about this deal being off the table from either of the 2 parties but it stresses the fact that a deal with Sudarat’s Thai Saang Thai Party by anyone is likely going to be a difficult one to achieve.
After Nipit’s statement that the merger is off the table, rumors started that the Saang Anakhot Thai Party is likely to merge with the Chart Pattana Kla Party which is led by Korn and Suwat instead. There are talks that a deal could be reached as early as this week.