PHUKET: Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, former leader of the disbanded Future Forward party, hit the campaign trail in this southern island province on Sunday, announcing his plan to field candidates nationwide in coming local elections under the banner of the "Progressive Movement".
He was accompanied by Prasertpong Sornnuwat, an MP of the Move Forward Party, Shariff Anantasat, a former party-list candidate of the FFP, and members of the Progressive Movement.
They took part in an organised forum with former members of the FFP, drawing an audience with a panel discussion, "Move forward with the Progressive Movement", at the Boat Lagoon Resort Phuket.
Mr Thanathorn said when the FFP was dissolved, some of its MPs joined other parties, leaving only 54 remaining with FFP's reincarnation, the Move Forward Party, to promote the FFP's policies.
Those deprived of their MP status as a result of the FFP's dissolution had regrouped to form the Progressive Movement, with the strong determination to field candidates in local government elections - be they for tambon administration organisations (TAOs), provincial administration organisations (PAOs), municipalities, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) or Pattaya City.
"We are in Phuket today to persuade the Phuket people to walk together with us. We will field our candidates in the election of 5,320 TAOs, 76 PAOs, 2,454 municipalities, the BMA and Pattaya City," Mr Thanathorn said.
Mr Thanathorn said the Progressive Movement would field teams, maintaining solidarity with policies for development in fields such as transport, water administration and management, garbage collection and other areas, to better the lives of grassroot people. They would cooperate with Move Forward Party MPs.
After that, Mr Thanathorn and his entourage proceeded to The Bay and Beach Club at Patong beach for talks with businessmen in the hotel, tourism and entertainment sectors, with a panel discussion entitled: "How Phuket will move forward after Covid-19".