Narumon Pinyosinwat, a former key member of the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), has denied that the little-known Kla Dharma Party, which has elected her as its new leader, is a branch of PPRP.
Ms Narumon was chosen at a party assembly on Tuesday to succeed Chawengsak Jaidam.
Kla Dharma (Dharma Courage) has grown out of the ashes of the Setthakij Thai Party, the registration of which was linked to Palang Pracharath.
Setthakij Thai was established to accommodate PPRP secretary-general Thamanat Prompow and MPs affiliated with him after they were expelled from the party following a failed attempt to mobilise no-confidence votes against Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha when he was prime minister.
Thamanat and his group later moved back to Palang Pracharath, which is also part of the current coalition government. He currently serves as the agriculture minister.
More than 250 members of Kla Dharma attended the assembly at a Bangkok hotel. The majority voted to install Ms Narumon as leader, Sajjawit Leelawanij as secretary-general, Alongkorn Promkatkaew as treasurer and Suppakit Panya as party registrar.
The party executive board comprises Wichai Penpanassak, Kijpob Kanthamit, Theerasak Sitthichaithanakij, Thassachon Boonsaenchai, Kampaeng Thamna, Prasit Naktue and Panatda Kantha.
Ms Narumon told the meeting the party would uphold the constitutional monarchy and rule of law and work to improve investors’ confidence in the economy and promote ties with international community.
In October last year, the cabinet endorsed an order by the Prime Minister’s Office appointing Ms Narumon as an adviser who concurrently assumed the role of Thai Trade Representative. Her appointment came a month after she resigned as a PPRP member.
Ms Narumon also served as a government spokeswoman and deputy labour minister under the previous Prayut administration.
She said that even though she had not been a member of any party for almost a year after quitting Palang Pracharath, she has been actively promoting trade and investment.
However, she denied that Kla Dharma was a backup party for PPRP, adding that she had not spoken to Thamanat of late.
She insisted Kla Dharma had its own agenda to pursue and that its executives and members were legally registered and are independent.
Thamanat also said Kla Dharma was not a Palang Pracharath party in reserve. “The party (Kla Dharma) has nothing to do with PPRP,” he said, adding the two have different ways of conducting political business.