Former charter drafter Paiboon Nititawan recently made headlines after his decision to create the People’s Reform Party, which would pave the way for Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha to become premier again.

Paiboon, also a former member of the now-defunct National Reform Council (NRC), said the party would promote “a good guy” rather than “a dirty politician”, and the best man in his judgement wasPrayut.

“With his great contributions, Prayut is a super-giant star who is embraced by the people and no one is comparable to him,” he said.

The new party was announced after Paiboon said he realised that a large number of people favoured the general, judging from the charter referendum results. More than 61.35 per cent voted for the draft charter and 58.07 per cent approved the additional question about allowing senators to join MPs in choosing a prime minister.

“Over 16 million people found the draft charter acceptable, and for the second question, 15 million agreed to have the 250 senators join MPs in selecting a prime minister. This means that people want to see national reform in line with Prayut‘s plan and that they support the general.”

The voters who accepted both questions would be the party’s core constituency, Paiboon said, adding that in late 2014, while he was an NRC member, he had proposed that the Senate should join MPs in picking a premier.

In mid-2015, while working on a draft charter as part of a committee led by Borwornsak Uwanno, Paiboon proposed an extra question – asking if people wanted a two-year national reform period before the next election – to be included in the charter referendum.

With the “Yes” result of the recent referendum, Paiboon said he was sure that millions of people shared his ideology, wishing to see the country move forward under the new charter and have an unelected prime minister.

Under the approved draft, each party is expected to submit the names of three candidates for the premier’s post to the Election Commission (EC) before the election. If no candidate on the lists gains a majority vote in the 500-seat House of Representatives, then half of the House can call on the Parliament president to convene a Senate-House meeting to drop the candidate lists.

Then, Paiboon said, the House and the Senate would jointly select a suitable outsider to be premier as specified by the additional question approved in the referendum.

Paiboon said he did not expect any of the listed candidates would win a majority vote in the Lower House, and in the resulting deadlock his party would push for Prayut to serve a second term as premier.

He said that there were two possible scenarios if there is deadlock. First, he said, a major party likePheu Thai or the Democrat Party could cooperate with small and medium-sized parties to choosePrayut as prime minister. Second, the two major parties and a medium party could join forces to either select Prayut or another suitable outsider.

Paiboon said his party would not submit a list of candidates because he wanted to show that the party only supports Prayut.

He also insisted that it would not be a military party set up specifically to promote the general, but instead it would be a political tool for people who wanted to fight corruption.

“Previously, people who were disgusted by graft and disliked irresponsible politicians had no choices, so they selected those who were ‘least evil’. But now people will have this alternative party, which will use people’s power in Parliament to counterbalance bad politicians,” he said.

He added that the party would welcome people who shared the same ideology, and those who wanted to join should have accepted the draft and the additional question in last Sunday’s referendum. Also, he said, members should accept three key missions: reforming “dirty” politics and politicians by pushing for “a good” leader, or Prayut, to hold the top post; reforming religion; and promoting an inclusive checks-and-balances mechanism.

He said the party would send candidates to all 350 constituencies in the next election including some new faces. Admitting that there was a possibility that retired military officers would join the party, he said veteran politicians and retired officers were qualified people.

Paiboon said the party would not offer “populist” policies, adding that the charter and the 20-year national strategic plan would ease the next government’s work rather than obstructing it as many politicians fear.

“The powers-that-be will not write a plan that will bar them, because one day they could be the ones who run the country under that plan,” he said.

Paiboon said he was not the party leader, as the post had not been filled because the party had not yet been officially registered due to the junta’s ban on political activities. He added that the party would be a sort of association, in which members would be volunteers. Funds would come from activities and donations once the party is registered, he said. “We do not need financiers because the party is not an enterprise. We don’t need a large sum of money like other political parties.”

With the slogan of “Smart Party”, Paiboon said the organisation would communicate and campaign via social media, adding that all members would have to be “trendy” and come from the middle-class.