Former core members of the now-defunct Thai Raksa Chart Party have declined to name the parties they will support, but have vowed to continue their efforts to stop the military regime from prolonging its rule.
The Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the party on Thursday for an act deemed hostile to the rule of constitutional monarchy when it nominated Princess Ubolratana as its prime ministerial candidate on Feb 8.
The court also imposed a political ban on its executives. As a result of the party disbandment, its 282 MP candidates -- 174 in constituencies and 108 on the party list -- have been left stranded just two weeks before the March 24 election because they cannot apply to join a new party in time. The law requires a candidate to be a member of a party for at least 90 days before the election date.
The party’s demise spurred speculation about which parties its former members would support or whether it would urge their supporters to choose no one, or cast a "no vote".
Chaturon Chaisang, the former party chief strategist, told a briefing on Saturday that his group would continue to communicate with people about its objectives.
“Thai Raksa Chart was set up to promote democracy, stop dictatorial power succession and support a democratically elected government to solve economic problems," he said. "I’m saddened the party was dissolved and party executives were banned from politics. Our MP candidates also lost their status.
“Now all of us are ordinary people and we have the right as citizens to join other parties and help them campaign for votes as allowed by the Election Commission."
Mr Chaturon added that his group believed it didn’t matter what role they played. "We’ll continue to talk to people in the last stretch to the election.”
He said it was not easy or even possible to transfer potential votes to other parties although some members might ask people to support other parties. “It all depends on voters,” he said.
Calling their mission “Next step to Democracy”, they will open four stages to talk to people, one in each region.
Nuttawut Saikuar, another core member and a red-shirt leader, said his group hoped supporters would embrace their new mission.
“We’ll continue to walk with people to support pro-democracy parties and will not launch a vote-no campaign. We believe voters will support pro-democracy [candidates] and overcome the obstacles laid by the dictatorial side,” he said.
