A founder of the Action Coalition for Thailand Party (ACT) backed by Suthep Thaugsuban is appealing to people who supported Mr Suthep's street protests in 2013-14 to join the new “party of the people”.
Prasarn Marukapitak, a former member of the Group of 40 senators, said his party’s platform was based on national reform, which he described as an “endless mission”.
Mr Prasarn declined to say whether his party would support Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha if he is proposed as a prime ministerial candidate following elections expected in February next year.
He said only that Gen Prayut’s work on reform over the past four years since he took power in a coup would be the foundation for the future.
“It’s too early to tell and we need to respect our members’ wishes. So let’s not tie us to Gen Prayut. Tie us to national reform instead,” he said.
Mr Prasarn also denied that ACT would become a branch of the Democrat Party. Mr Suthep was a key figure in the Democrats for many years before breaking away in 2013 to lead the protest movement that paved the way for the 2014 coup.
“I wouldn’t be standing here if we were a nominee of the Democrats. I wouldn’t allow that. We’ll fight hard and will field candidates in all 350 constituencies," said Mr Prasarn.
“We hope to appeal to millions of people who joined hands in resisting fraudulent power and protested for six months both on the streets and online, as well as to the spirit of Muan Maha Prachachon,” he said, referring to the Suthep-led People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) rallies to unseat former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra in 2013 and 2014.
“If we get 2 million votes, we would have 30 MPs” he said.
“We’re not an enemy of anyone and are ready to embrace like minds. While few former MPs have joined us, we too are selective. We won’t accept anyone with different ideologies, those with records as enemies of democracy or ‘grey’ politicians.”
The official Thai name of the party is Ruamphalang Prachachartthai, or Uniting the Force of the Thai Nation, but it has chosen to brand itself in English as ACT.
Mr Suthep admitted openly for the first time on Saturday that he was a co-founder of ACT.
“I made the decision [to join] after I learned of the will and ideologies of the founders," he said on Facebook Live. "They intend to form a party that truly belongs to the people, who will decide who will be its executives and what its policies will be.”
Mr Suthep, who is now chairman of the PDRC Foundation, said ACT represented a new approach to politics in Thailand.
“Up until now, we saw parties that belonged to families, parties of interest groups or groups coveting political power. Never before has Thailand had a party for the people.”
ACT will hold its first formal meeting on Sunday. Anek Laothamatas, an academic and former chief of the Mahachon Party, is tipped to become the leader.
“In any case, it’s just a rumour. It all depends on who the members choose as their leader,” Mr Prasarn said.
Members on Sunday will first elect nine party executives, who will then choose the party’s leader and secretary-general among themselves.
“We don’t have the members directly elect people for the two positions due to management complications,” Mr Prasarn explained.
Mr Suthep said the military-drafted 2017 constitution, which the public endorsed in a referendum, made it possible for parties such as ACT to emerge.
“The more I talked to the founders about their ideologies, the more I’m impressed,” he said.
He oulined some of the things he said ACT stood for: upholding the monarchy; transforming the country into "dhammacracy" at every level; respecting people’s will and accepting people’s power in directing politics; and pursuing national reform in line with people’s wishes -- eliminating corruption, reforming politics, decentralising, narrowing the wealth gap, and judicial reform, especially the police.
He stressed that the party did not belong to the PDRC since the latter formally ceased to exist on May 22, 2014.
However, he said, ACT pledged to carry out all of the PDRC’s ideological goals.