After the stunning result of the Malaysian election, Thailand's oldest political party, the Democrats, finds itself facing the possibility of former leader and premier Chuan Leekpai making a comeback.
Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday did not rule out Mr Chuan taking the party's helm for their campaign to win the general election, which is likely to be held in February next year.
Talk of Mr Chuan's return as party chief follow the comeback of 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad who broke the ruling National Front's 60-year hold on power in last week's Malaysian election.
Mr Abhisit said Mr Chuan, who at 79 is younger than the Malaysian leader, commands wide respect from party members and is renowned for his honesty and integrity.
However, he said the former party leader has yet to express an interest in returning.
Mr Chuan, who led the party between 1991 and 2003, currently serves as the Democrats' chief adviser.
"I believe a lot of people support him, but so far he has indicated that he isn't interested. But that may change in the future," said Mr Abhisit.
Mr Abhisit also said that when the regime's political ban is lifted, the Democrat Party would draw up new party regulations and elect a new executive board and leader.
The party will then conduct election primaries to select candidates to stand in the polls and nominate three candidates for prime minister.
"I don't know who will be on the list. The party leadership might be contested," he said.
According to Mr Abhisit, one thing that the recent election in Malaysia showed was that people could make their voices heard through voting.
Mr Chuan yesterday refused to comment about a possible return and said this kind of speculation was normal in the run-up to a poll.
Phirayos Rahimmula, a former Democrat Party list-MP, said supporters in the South would back Mr Chuan making a return following Dr Mahathir's election success.
He also denied reports that several Democrat members had defected but stressed that defections, if any, would not affect party plans.
Former Democrat member Alongkorn Ponlaboot said Mr Chuan could be one of the prime minister choices, adding that with the right reform platform the Democrat Party under Mr Chuan could become a phenomenon like in Malaysia.
Deputy Democrat Party leader Nipit Intarasombat, however, insisted there was no move in the party to back Mr Chuan to replace Mr Abhisit.
He said when the party members meet to elect a new set of executives, Mr Abhisit would emerge as the party leader.
"Mr Chuan always brushes off this kind of thing and expresses support for Mr Abhisit. I don't think the case of Dr Mahathir will change his mind. I think he still supports Mr Abhisit," he said.
Sathit Pitudecha, a party spokesman and former MP for Rayong, brushed off talk about Mr Chuan's possible return, saying it originated from "outsiders" who wanted to discredit the party.
"The election result in Malaysia shouldn't be used as a yardstick. And if Mr Chuan makes a return as party leader, he will face a barrage of criticism from outsiders who want to discredit the party, just as would Mr Abhisit," he said.
Mr Sathit did admit that Mr Chuan was likely to be one of the party's candidates for prime minister.
In a related development, Mr Nipit said the challenge for the Democrat Party and any large party would be finding list candidates.
Under the new election rules, constituency candidates will have a more significant role because the votes they receive will be used to calculate the number of party-list seats.
He said the new system would deter candidates from contesting the polls as list candidates.
