Two small coalition parties have agreed to team up in an attempt to increase their bargaining power within the Palang Pracharath Party-led government.
The Palang Thong Thin Thai Party (PTTT) and the Thai Forest Conservation Party (TFCP) announced their pact in Nakhon Si Thammarat's Chang Klang district, where the party leaders were attending a merit-making activity on Wednesday night.
The PTTT. led by Chatchawal Khong-udom, has three House seats while the TFCP, headed by Damrong Pidech, has two.
Mr Chatchawal said the parties decided to work together because they had similar policies that would stand a better chance of being adopted if they were promoted jointly.
He admitted that policies pursued by small parties have not been well received by the bigger parties in the coalition.
Mr Damrong denied his party was pressured into forming the pact, saying he believed this approach would make it easier for small parties to have a greater say and improve the chances of their policies being implemented.
He also invited other small parties to join them.
"Things will be easier if we band together. We now have five seats and which can be increased to eight or 11 depending on the political situation," he said.
It was reported that several key figures from the Puea Chat Party, which is currently allied with the opposition camp, also attended the merit-making activity.
However Puea Chat list-MP Aree Krainara said he and other party members were strictly there for merit-making and not to try to seek political gain by joining the PTTT-TFCP alliance.