NEWS THINK
ANUCHA CHAROENPO
Puea Pandin party leader Suvit Khunkitti was wrong to think his withdrawal from the People Power party (PPP)-led coalition on Tuesday would trigger a collapse of the administration.
Opponents of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his cabinet may have been celebrating Mr Suvit's decision on Tuesday. Hopes it would be the first step towards a new election were soon dashed.
Instead, Puea Pandin MPs, led by Suradej Yasawat, protested against Mr Suvit's announcement, saying most of them had never been informed of the decision. They vowed to stay with the government.
Mr Suvit's announcement failed to undermine the government's stability. The prime minister on Wednesday shrugged off the resignations of Mr Suvit and his followers - Deputy Finance Minister Ranongrak Suwanchawee and Deputy Interior Minister Sithichai Kohsurat.
Mr Samak is still confident the government will complete its four-year term, despite being continually challenged since coming to power.
His immediate goal is to hold on to power until he succeeds in amending the charter.
Puea Pandin now has 24 House seats. Its withdrawal, if all members agreed, would have lowered the number of coalition seats from 316 to 292. But that would still be more than the 188 combined seats of the Democrat party and Puea Pandin.
Mr Suvit's withdrawal is not considered a politically courageous action.
After he announced he was cutting ties with the Samak government, the first question that came to mind was why he decided to leave the government during the cabinet reshuffle, instead of doing it earlier.
His announcement came one day before Mr Samak submitted his new cabinet line-up to His Majesty the King. That meant the negotiations over the allocation of new cabinet seats could have led to a major rift between Mr Samak and Mr Suvit.
Mr Suvit reasoned that his withdrawal was in the country's best interests because of conflicts with the PPP over issues regarding the constitutional amendment, the Preah Vihear temple conflict and the violent clashes between government supporters and opponents in Udon Thani province.
He also claimed his party wanted the government to deal with the rising cost of living and economic issues first, but those demands have not been met.
But his departure will not lead to the government's collapse. That will not happen as long as Chart Thai stays put.
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