The Bhumjaithai Party and its leader continues to keep a low profile amid uncertainty who will become the prime minister as the election results are still unknown.
The party held its first general assembly for the first time after the March 24 poll on Monday and party frontman Anutin Chanvirakul said after the meeting that Bhumjaithai would continue to keep a low profile until political dust settled.
The party will not unveil its stance as the official election results have not been announced and vote recounts are likely in some constituencies, he said.
According to unofficial results, Bhumjaithai won 39 constituency seats in the election, the third most after the Pheu Thai and Palang Pracharath parties. It won 3.5 million popular votes after the Pheu Thai, Palang Pracharath, Future Forward and Democrat parties. All in all, the party is expected to have 51-52 MPs depending on the formula used in the party-list calculation.
To date, the party has not given any clue which direction it will take -- the so-called democratic front led by Pheu Thai or the pro-regime camp spearheaded by Palang Pracharath, who pushes for Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to be prime minister.
Bhumjaithai will join a coalition it can work with without conflicts and supports its policies, Mr Anutin said, adding the party continues to be "humble" given the poll results.
The decision by Bhumjaithai to join Pheu Thai or Palang Pracharath would give either of them more than enough votes to form a multi-party government.
Mr Auntin has even been tipped to be PM to break the political impasse if the attempts of the two political camps to lead the new administration go nowhere.
"I won't accept that," he told reporters when asked whether he would take an offer to be the prime minister. "I shouldn't be a choice when there is no way out," he added.
"If you ask me whether I want to be a prime minister, the answer is yes. But whether it's possible or not is another matter because there are other things to consider," he told reporters.
The position of this mid-sized party could be clearer after the Election Commission announces the official poll results, scheduled by May 9, when leading parties are expected to step up their political wheeling and dealing.
"Today, I don't know whom I'll talk to," the businessman-turns-politician said. "And nobody has given me a call."
