Red shirts in the North and Northeast have welcomed Jatuporn Promphan as the new leader of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD).
They say he has made them more energetic and given them courage to continue the political fight.
Anuwat Tinarat, UDD leader of Nakhon Ratchasima, said yesterday Mr Jatuporn's replacement of Tida Tawornseth as UDD chairman is a positive move for the group and will help the Northeastern region in its fight to protect democracy.
"It is a sign that UDD fights from now on will be more intense,’’ he said.
Mr Jatuporn is an appropriate leader to fight on a par with People’s Democratic Reform Committee leader Suthep Thaugsuban, Mr Anuwat added.
Siriwat jupamattha, UDD coordinator in Phayao, said Mr Jatuporn would strengthen the red-shirt network because he was accepted by all factions of the UDD.
He said he believed the UDD's strategy and political campaigning under Mr Jatuporn would become more aggressive, but would remain non-violent.
Mr Jatuporn has maintained a strong position in the fight for democracy, he said.
"Over the fast four months of PDRC protest, we have been in defence mode, but now it’s time for an aggressive fight to shake Suthep," he said.
Ms Tida, the UDD's former chairwoman, announced her replacement by Mr Jatuporn at a red-shirt rally in Ayutthaya provincial stadium on Saturday night.
The rally was intended as a prelude to a showdown with anti-government groups. Another core leader, Nattawut Saikuar, also caretaker deputy commerce minister, was appointed to the new post of UDD secretary-general.
Ms Tida said Mr Jatuporn, who led red-shirt protests against the Democrat-led government in 2010, had been appointed as her replacement to lead the UDD through the current "special political situation".
After the leadership announcement to the crowd on Saturday night, Mr Jatuporn said the UDD’s rival is not Mr Suthep because he is just a puppet of the amart system.
The red shirts define the amart system as an old elite network of patronage. The UDD believes the amart has influence over independent organisations under the 2007 constitution and military.
Mr Jatuporn said the six independent organisations established under the 2007 constitution would outline their plans for reconciliation today, but he believed the proposals would not be in line with democracy.
"We will not leave our fate with the amart,’’ he said.
He said he believed that the National Anti-Corruption Commission, one of the six organisations, would rule early next month that the charges of dereliction of duty against caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, for her dealings in the rice-pledging scheme, have grounds.
This would result in her suspension as PM.
He added that the 318 lawmakers who supported the charter amendment draft on the composition of the senate, which was ruled unconstitutional by the Constitution Court, would succumb to the same fate.
Furthermore, the court would decide to nullify the Feb 2 election.
"We never won our fights in amart arenas, so we must fight in the people’s arena, the election,’’ he said.